All language subtitles for Somm.2012.1080P.Bluray.X264.Aac5.1-[Yts.Mx]-ENG

How often do you
smell something?

It's just like
we go through life

with this
day-to-day routine,

and you don't really stop
and experience and breathe,

and then just appreciate
what's there.

I think that's one thing
that wine has enabled me to do,

is you stop and you take it
and you look at it,

and you smell it,
and you live life
through your senses

for that quick 25 minutes.

It's like nothing else matters,
other than this liquid.

Cauble: I think
it's an interesting--

interesting passion that
we've all developed, you know?

I mean,
you have this plant

for thousands
and thousands of years.

People have been dedicating
their life

to make something amazing
out of it, you know?

We're at the culmination
of the best--

the best knowledge
about the best winemaking.

Sommeliers are professionals
that are supposedly experts

about knowing about
beverage and wine,

so it's an amazing art

to be able to understand
the whole world,

and it's an amazing thing
to show it to people.

I thought that the chef
had it figured out.

Somms now have become the new
rock stars of our industry,

and you have
a whole, you know,

a completely different level of
person now wanting to be a somm.

Wines today
must have stories,

and those stories we tell
the guests by flavor,

and the story of the wine,

not the brand of the wine,
not the label of the wine.

One thing about the somm
that's important,

it's like going to the racetrack
and you get the tout sheet.

Buying a new bottle of wine
is always a wager.

I bet my 50 bucks, my ten bucks,
my 100 bucks--

I bet 100 bucks I like
this bottle of wine.

You feel a lot better
on that bet if somebody,

say, at the racetrack, says,

"oh, I know this horse,
I know that jockey.
They're gonna do good."

So that helps the people
with their wager

to buy
that bottle of wine.

Is it gonna
be a finisher for 'em?

Is the bet gonna pay off?

And they help
people make good bets.

Usually, people
with a sports background

or some highly
competitive nature

tend to find their way
into the somm profession.

They want to be experts
in a given field.

They want to be the best
they can be in a given field.

So there's this diploma called
the master sommelier diploma.

It's the highest achievement
you can make

in the world of wine.

Over 40 years, there's only
been, like, 170 in the world.

- Forty years!
- When someone tells you,

"this is something that
a lot of people can't do,"

people will either go,
"wow, that's impressive,"

or they say,
"wow, I want to do that."

This is not practice
anymore, you know?

It's like, this is why you
train, is for this day.

I cried when
my parents died.

I cried when
my children were born.

The only other time
outside of that that I cried

was when I passed this exam.

The exam is three parts.

There is a theory exam.

It's a comprehensive knowledge
of wine laws, wine regions.

Name a winery from Ukraine.

It's pretty amazing, the amount
of information you have to know.

The entire world of wine,
spirits, sake, beer, cigars,

the regions, the subregions,
the districts, the villages.

It's in five languages:

Portuguese, Spanish, Italian,
German, French, Hungarian.

And you've got service.

The service portion
of the exam,

we set up a mock
restaurant environment.

You have to demonstrate
cool, calm, collect,

professional behavior

in this radically
bizarre environment,

and it's very difficult.

And then
there's the tasting.

You have three whites,
three reds--

basically four minutes,
ten seconds per wine--

and you need to describe
the wine accurately.

You're describing the structure,
the body, the alcohol,

whether the wine's from a warm
climate or a cool climate,

new world, old world,

possible varietals,
possible age range,

and take a deep breath and say
what you think the wine is.

I've never worked harder
at anything, you know,

coming up to this,

so... every moment of my life
has been, you know,

waking up, how am I gonna
prepare for this exam?

Before I go to bed, I'm gonna
stay an extra three hours up,

and sleep less
to prepare for this exam.

You know, I'm gonna
choose not to go out,

and stay home and study,
you know?

Ian is about as talented
of an individual

as you'll see
in this profession.

He's the rudd scholar
of our last advanced exam,

which is
the highest scorer.

I think Ian
gravitated
towards wine

because, first of all,
it's an intoxicant.

And it's fun.

So it goes into that valve,

- and then it just goes
free-run-- gravity-- down.
- Yeah, down there.

And some people like to put
all the juice into a tank

and let it settle
overnight.

I just go straight
into the barrel.

I think the most important thing
in Ian's life is wine.

If... and then family,

and then, of course, me.

I have some vintage footage of
when he was a little knucklehead

at eight and ten years old,

and he's holding a glass of wine
at a Thanksgiving dinner,

and talking about
the nuances of the wine.

Tastes like it has
no alcohol.

But I don't know
where that came from,

because at
that point in time,

no one in our family
was into describing wine,

and going over
the flavor profiles.

Wine one is a white wine,
clear star bright.

There's no evidence
of gas or flocculation.

The wine has
a light straw core,

consistent degree
and reflections in the edge,

medium concentration
of color.

Aroma's coming out of, like,
this lime candy, lime zest.

Crushed apples...
Underripe green mango.

Underripe melon,
melon skin.

- Green pineapple.
- And palate?

Wine is bone dry.

Really this crushed slate
and crushed chalky note.

Like, crushed hillside.

There's white florals,
almost like a fresh-cut flower--

white flowers, white lilies.
No evidence of oak.

There's a...
Kind of a fresh...

Like, a freshly opened
can of tennis balls,

and, like, a... seriously.

And a fresh new
rubber hose, I get.

That's a new one.
Good. I like that.

Structure.

Acid's medium plus.

Alcohol's medium.

Complexity's medium plus.

In conclusion, this wine
is from the new world,

from a temperate climate.

Possible grapes
are Riesling.

Possible countries
are Australia.

Age range is
one to three years.

I think this can
only be one thing.

Uh, this wine
is from Australia,

this wine is from
south Australia,

this wine is, uh,
from Clare valley,

2009, Riesling,
high-quality producer.

- Wine one is
Clare valley Riesling.
- Good.

If you're really serious,

if you really
want to become an m.S.,
you can't do it alone.

You have to-- you have to find
a great support group, a mentor,

and you need to be
in an environment

where there's wine around you
all the time.

So, uh,
whenever you're ready.

Wine number two is a clear,
star bright white wine

of, uh,
medium concentration.

Uh, again, got a paler yellow
here with glints of green.

Um, no evidence
of gas or sediment.

Wine viscosity is...

Again, we'll
call that medium.

I got into wine because I was
working in a restaurant

to get through college.

It was a restaurant
that served a lot of wine.

My degree was in geography.

He started in wine
pretty much right
when we met,

uh, starting
going through
the court.

Our relationship
has been congruent

with his testimonials
through the test.

When you dig into a specific
region of the world,

you're not just learning
about the grapes or the vines,

you're learning about
the people,

you're learning
about the history of
the culture, the food.

It's almost a way of traveling
through the world.

Wine number three
is more of a medium gold,

with green reflections,
moving into a watery meniscus.

Wine is day bright,

no evidence of gas,
flocculants, or sediment.

Concentration is medium.

My husband's a bull
in a China shop.

He's a, you know,
like a man's man, athletic.

I basically was
a baseball player

who supplemented college
with restaurant jobs.

He was never gonna make it
as a professional athlete,

so, uh, and...

So he ended up
evaluating wine.

I've got into this
relatively recently,

so I have very little seasoning,
very little experience.

He went from really knowing
nothing about wine,

other than he wanted
to be in this industry,

to passing his advanced
in a year.

I wasn't entrenched
in this world

like a lot of people
in my industry are.

In some respects, I feel
kind of like a black sheep,

like the philistine
of the court.

You know why
I like Pearl jam?

Because I don't know
lyrics very well,

and I can just make 'em up,
and it still sounds good.

High energy. I mean...

People that meet him
for the first time are like,

"is he always like this?"
It's like, "yeah, he is."

Wine number four
is a red wine.

This wine is...
Star bright.

This wine is
a bright red Ruby color,

fit into a hot pink
vin variation.

Medium concentration.

Very, very light standing
in the tears.

Viscosity is medium-plus.
No gas, no sediment.

On the nose, wine is clean,
no obvious flaws.

This wine has
a moderate-plus intensity,

moderate-plus power
on the nose.

This wine is very young,
very bright, very youthful.

Wine experiencemagazine
had just named me

best new sommelier
in america,

along with my good buddy
Ian cauble.

I wanted to be
a particular person

that I saw
in a restaurant:

Dapper,
Italian-cut suit,

pointed-toe shoes,

wonderful black serviette
draped over his forearm,

bottle held high.

I told myself,
I can be him,

I have to be him,
I will be him.

When I first met dlynn,

I knew that he was gonna be one
of those rising stars,

because he had those
intangibles, you know?

He was engaging,
he was personable, he's smart.

Dlynn's an actor, and he has
a beautiful form, man.

We call him señor smooth.

When you look good,

you're confident,
you feel good.

The best way to take care of
your guests, by looking good.

You're following
some of the most
dedicated, obsessed people.

Sage, truffle,
wet forest floor,

decaying soil,
decaying dried red Rose petals.

That-- that decaying
animal skin.

Wine on its own is not
a complicated thing.

We're talking about fermented
grape juice, right?

There's basically only
one species of grape vine

that we use to make wine,

and that's called
vitis vinifera.

The history of wine
is fascinating.

It's been spread by humans
since the neolithic period,

it's been written about since
the third millennium b.C.

When you study wine,
you study history,

because it's all hooked up.

If you've ever bothered
to read the Bible,

it tends to be
part of the sacrament.

Mcclintic: The ancient Greeks
brought it to Italy.

The romans brought it to
France, Germany, Spain,

and most of Europe,

where the oldest vineyards
still make wine today.

The Roman army
marched on wine.

They didn't drink water--
too dangerous to drink water,
so they drank wine.

The romans did
all the original plantings,

and then,
in the dark ages,

what came out of it
were the monks,

and obviously,
in their world,

what are the things
they did all day?

Eat, sleep, pray,
work, drink.

Out of those five,
what sounds like the most fun?

The bottle I'm showing you is
Johannesburg Riesling from 1735,

which is one of the oldest,

if not the oldest still-existing
white wines in the world.

Mcclintic: When the Spanish
discovered the new world,

they brought vitis vinifera.

Now it grows in Chile,
Argentina, Mexico, California.

The Dutch, the French,
and the British

spread it to their empires:

The eastern United States,
Australia, New Zealand,

South Africa,
Canada, and so on.

If you think about wine,
it's about where men went.

It's about history, rivers.

It's about geology,
geography,

and all these things are
opened up to your mind

as you taste, you know?
It's such a cool thing.

The world of wine
is always growing.

How could someone possibly know
everything about it?

It's not just history.

It's the way it's grown,
it's the way it's made,

how it's stored,
why certain years were good,

how to serve it,

what to eat with every
different kind of wine.

That's why the court of
master sommeliers exists.

The highest level is called
the master exam.

It's a three-day test that can
only be taken once a year,

and it covers
just about everything.

The first exam was held
in the u.K. In 1969.

In 1984, an American passed all
three parts on his first try.

That was Fred dame.

So now I have a glass of wine,
I'm like, is this it? Am I done?

All that. All that.

There's the diploma,
I've got this, that.

I've got one of the greatest
wine cellars in america.

This is as far as we go?
I don't think so.

I think we'll
bring this to america.

We all owe Fred, period.

We wouldn't be here
if it wasn't for him.

You always want to have a chance
to be better than you are,

and you do that by setting
incredibly hard levels

for people to... not only to
prepare themselves for it,

but to understand
who they are.

If I didn't have children,
I never would have
passed the master's.

I never would have
worked that hard.

Hands down, the most difficult
thing I've ever done in my life.

No question, it's the hardest
thing I've ever done, period.

I see these young kids now,

they tell me
they're gonna be a master,

I laugh and I go,
"good luck with that!"

To be
an outstanding sommelier,

you have to be incredible--
an incredible taster,

and not only
just to taste wine,

but also to identify wine
without knowing the label,

'cause that's the way
you can explain to a guest.

What happens when you
learn to blind taste

is it increases
your perception.

You know what's going on
in the wine,

so you can evaluate
the wine better.

You understand
what's in the glass,

and the only way we can
explain that to the guests

is by knowing the wine
ourselves.

When you get to that point

of being able to very regularly
identify, you know, the wine,

you know that your senses and
your understanding of the wine

are to the point
where you really get it.

All right, gentlemen,
you've got two weeks left.

You're each gonna do
two wines.

They're fast balls,
they're ready to go.

I just want you
to get 'em right.

Describe 'em well, do 'em
in time, you know your format,

but the wines
are there to be gotten,

so figure out
what's important in the wine,

and what you need to know,
and get the wine right.

Get the wine right.

You've got about eight minutes
to do these two wines,

- and they're ready for you.
- Am I going through the grid?

You're going
through the grid.

Sugar, acid, tannins.
How's the alcohol body?

Fruit, earth, wood.
Non-fruit, non-earth, non-wood.

Complexity, balance, finish.
There was the grid, right?
That's the tasting grid.

All right, wine number one
is a medium straw

kind of lemon yellow with
golden green reflections

moving into
a watery meniscus.

Nose is clean,
uh, youthful.

High-intensity aromas.

Maybe a little lanolin,
wet wool,

chalky limestone
minerality.

Mandarin. Tangerine peel.
Hawthorne. Acacia.

Get some chamomile on it--
want to confirm the salinity.

Character is coming
out of grapefruit pith,

uh, uh, lemon seeds,
little bit of lime skin.

The skill of blind tasting

or what I'd rather call
deductive tasting, it's learned.

You're driving
down this road,

and it goes in
two directions, right?

And you're seeing two wines,
cab franc and syrah.

One path
takes you to chinon,

one path takes you to
the northern rhone, all right?

When you hit that point
and you're looking at,

is that olive,
or is that green bell pepper?

Right? Is that tobacco,
or is that smoked meat?

- And what did you decide?
- Smoked meat.

Who makes
great samurai swords?

The person that's gonna
make a great samurai sword

is the person
who had a teacher

who had a teacher
who had a teacher.

We always think
of this with wine:

"Oh, he must be
a natural wine taster."

Nobody ever says, "they must be
a natural samurai sword maker."

Every week, has to go to
the farmers' market.

Even today, I go.
I smell everything.

I smell the herbs,
I smell the plants,

I smell
all the dishes I eat,

because you have to keep
your palate alive.

It's something you
have to just keep on doing,

so that when you get to
a wine glass and you smell it,

automatically you think,

"okay, that's what
Jasmine smells like.

That's what key lime
smells like."

How many people
have actually smelled

a dried Violet versus
a rotten Violet

versus a fresh Violet?

And those are characters
in wine you smell.

A young nebbiolo
will have that Violet
and raspberry flavor,

an old nebbiolo is gonna have
a dried Violet flavor.

If you've never smelled
a dried Violet,

how are you gonna know
what's in the wine?

"Well, it has
a lemon peel note."

Oh, well, where did
they get the lemon peels?

Is that from
the same vineyard? No way.

The stuff
is not in the wine,

but all of the--
all of the chemical
compounds

that make anything
smell like it smells,

um, can be created
by fermentation.

Basically, it's just
a combination of yeast,

and then aging, and then
the fruit in the vineyard.

Smell is
a really funny thing.

It's-- it's so personal,

and we all have
these smells that come up,

where you're, like, "oh, my god,
I know that smell."

Sauvignon blanc, people...
Smells like cat pee and it does.

Actually, you know,
you get a sauvignon blanc

from New Zealand, and it does
smell a little like cat pee.

We use the word
"black currant bud."

That's kind of our code.
That's the way we
describe cat pee.

One of our favorites
for Riesling

is "pool toy," you know?

It's like
the brand-new plastic

that you're blowing up
for your child to go
play with in the pool.

Clare valley Riesling,
you actually put
your nose in there,

and it smells a little bit like
a freshly opened tennis ball,

and a little bit
of synthetic rubber,

like just-opened
rubber hose.

Ian's fresh tennis ball
is a new one,

but it's, like, the third time
I've heard it now.

I don't think I'll ever use it,
'cause I think it's ridiculous.

One of my favorite descriptors
is, um, uh, "granny purse."

Or your grandmother's
closet.

It's, like, "first of all,
I don't know your grandmother.

Second of all,
I don't know what the hell
her closet smells like."

You can picture this kind of
dusty old leather smell,

maybe a little bit of perfume
or lipstick or something.

An important
descriptor in wine

is being able
to describe the earth.

Some wines
aren't earthy at all.

Some are organic, and taste
like compost or garden soil.

Some are more like
wet rocks or slate.

It's like a sidewalk on a hot
day, after there's water on it.

You know how rocks or minerals
are a common smell

in a lot of wines?

Start licking rocks.
No, cut that!

No, but if you start--
you've never done that?

Yeah, like, you,
like, lick rocks,

or, like, just to understand
what that is.

To become so obsessed
with the subject

that you're gonna dedicate
so much energy and passion

and time and emotional--
you know, heartbreak--

into it that
you have to be,

just, you know,
maybe a little bit off.

- Take it home.
- Okay, there's meat
on this wine.

This wine is from France, this
wine is from the rhone valley,

this wine is from
the northern rhone.
This is Saint-Joseph, 2008,

cold vintage,
high-quality producer.

Great job. I mean,
you're in the zone, right?

You're doing exactly
what you need to do.

- It's exactly the way
you need to taste.
- Fantastic.

So you're--
you were-- you're there.

Way to go, dad!

- All: Dad!
- Dear old dad.

Oh, "dad." We call him dad.

We call Ian dad because he, uh,
he loves to be the father.

Like, he likes
to sit you down,

tell you exactly what
you're doing wrong,
why you're doing it.

Here's to dad.

- Here's to dad.
- To dad.

There's two ways
to approach it.

You can either, you know,
have the spit cups out,

have the timer out, and be doing
like very formal tastings,

um, or you can
kind of just, you know,

have a relaxed night,
and have a couple of drinks.

When the guys get together,

it's like a storm
comes through here.

There's a lot of
trash-talking,

- there's a lot of
making fun of each other.
- It's like wine geeks unite.

"I love you, Sam."
"I love you, Frodo."

"Aw, Sam."

I know! Every scene, right?

- "Sam! Frodo!"
- "Mr. Frodo!"

Wait, what is that from?

Oh, my god!

Yeah, they hound each other
pretty hard,

but I think,
more than anything else,

it's just to motivate
each other.

The competitive nature,
they all feed off of it.

It's kind of necessary
in this environment.

It pushes
one another forward.

They'll spend
the whole evening

just giving each other
a hard time.

The wine is...
Clearly... ripe...

But has acid, too,
and a lot of herbaciousness.

It's got black pepper
and smoky meat.

It is unoaked.

Northern rhone.

I think this
is southern rhone.

I think this is southern rhone
with a lot of syrah.

I'm gonna call '04, uh...
'04 vacqueyras.

That is a ballsy call, dude.
'04 vacqueyras? Why?

All right, you lay
your balls on the table.

I laid my balls out,
and said cote rotie '08.

- Are you stickin' with your
northern rhone call, or...?
- Of course! I can't call--

I can't go back now
just 'cause

- caubler's trying
to talk me out of it.
- Shit's northern rhone.

- Is it northern?
- It's northern rhone.

- Who is it?
- Ogier.

It's funny. They're like--

they're like guys in a locker
room, with wine bottles.

Ian, what's
a fresh-cut garden hose?

You've never
smelled that before?

Why do you cut your garden hose
in the first place?

Yeah, Willy-- Willy--
Willy sharrot

actually taught me that.
Willy sharrot.

Liz: I say that
all the time--
new water hose.

- Yeah, water hose.
- Fresh-cut water hose.
I say that all the time.

- You can't freshly cut
a garden hose.
- Just say synthetic rubber.

So who taught you that?

Why don't you tell me how to
taste, then? I mean, shit, fuck.

It's not like they're consuming,
you know, Pellegrino all night.

So, as it goes on,

I think that opening
more bottles sounds
like a great idea--

those great ideas you have
at 2:00 in the morning.

Hey,
mate, you want another wine,

or you done,
or how do you feel?

They do it until they are
just, like, exhausted.

I could never imagine
keeping a friend if I...

Played with them like
they play with each other.

Ian's definitely
the most serious one,

I want to say.

Dad has the floor.

- Does she wanna step it up?
- You want the whole thing?

- I want you to
fuckin' go for it.
- Okay, it's a red wine.

This wine is medium clear.
The wine is bright.

There's no evidence of
gas or flocculation.

The wine has a dark Ruby core,
consistent to the edge,

where there is an orange rim.

I'll call the viscosity
medium-plus.

- Medium-plus?
- Do you want
to change my call?

- I was just repeating it.
- Why don't you finish it up?

- Go with your heart, dude.
- I'm not gonna continue.

- What?!
- Oh, my god!

- No, no, no. If he wants to
continue, he can call it.
- Let him rock the wine.

- Do you want to do the wine?
- Let him rock the wine.
Let Ian rock the wine.

No, I just don't need
the whole peanut gallery.

- If you wanna do it,
you can do it.
- The children are acting up.

I've had a long day, and
I'm gonna do the wine or what?

We're trying to focus
for the exam,

and I think
that's my point.

That's what
I love about you,

is you get upset and then,
immediately, you're over it.

You've got that thing.
Yeah. You're not quite over it
now, but you're gonna be there.

Yeah, I kind of
don't want to do the wine now.

You have to do the wine after
you did that whole bit, man,

there's no way of
gettin' out of that shit.

I think it's just,
after the last 25 minutes of,

like, constantly
fuckin' with me,

and I've just
hit a point of, like,
not wanting to take any more.

You guys are all
my best friends,
and you understand.

And, uh, untuck it,
taste the wine,

and let's go ahead
and do it.

Wine's clean,
developing...

Medium-plus
intensity aromas.

Hey, mate, stay focused.

Dude, this is just gonna
go to the next person.

I'm just too irritated
right now.

I can understand it, but you
dish it out a lot, brother.

- I know. Hey--
- we bring it on each other.

I understand that.
It just gets to
a point sometimes...

- Dude, it's all good.
- It just gets to a point
when it's just irritating.

Well, let's show
Ian some respect.

- To dad?
- To dad.

I'm not even in on that,
because you'll get pissed at me.

- No, it's all good.
- No, he likes "dad."
He knows he's dad.

I'm all good with it.

A lot of times, they'll leave
their spit buckets out,

and I end up cleaning 'em.

The spit bucket is this thing
that I find

at 8:00 in the morning.

You know, it's like when they
don't want to drink the wine,

they spit it in the spit bucket,
and I come home,

and there's actual spit wine
that's, like, a pink shade,

and I have to clean it out,

and they often use
our dishware--

you know, like, our cups,
or back into a wine glass.

Yeah.
The spit bucket's gross.

The happiest person
when you pass is not you,

it's your spouse.

And they're just like,
"thank god."

Like, you know, "can--
can we be done with this?"

Sometimes I'm like,
"wow, this is such a cool world

that I get to be
a part of and see,"

and they are so brilliant,
and then, at the same time,

they are just egomaniacs
who are so self-absorbed.

Your husband or boyfriend
disappears,

becomes a shell of themselves
for... months on end,

only to probably, 95% chance,
get defeated.

It's hard!

My wife basically told me,

upon my fourth
attempt at the m.S. Exam,

"honey, if you don't pass it
this time, we need to talk."

You miss a lot of-- a lot
of life moments go by

when you're preparing for this,
and I'll be honest, it's tough,

and it's worth it
in the end.

I tell everyone, "listen,
everything that you've missed

comes back tenfold."

Theory probably takes
the most time,

just because you have so much
to go through.

The theory exam
is an oral examination

where a panel of
the masters barrage you

with some of
the most obscure questions

you could possibly
imagine about wine.

What are the approved qwpsr
regions of Romania? Bulgaria?

Even the language alone--
klosterneuburger mostwaage--

I mean,
pronouncing these words.

Germany seems to be
hard for people,

and yes, yes,
it's got big, long words,

and an interesting language,
and...

We start with
the...

Then we have...

You have...
What did I forget?

Did I say that?

People have a difficulty with
Italy, for some reason.

The names of the grapes,
there's 3,000 in Italy alone.

It's not uncommon
that these guys are spending

eight, ten hours
a day every day

living and breathing
this stuff.

The other wives that I know
dread the note cards,

and the hours and hours
of studying

where they just have to be--
it's like another job.

Flash cards everywhere.

I think
I've got somewhere

probably in the vicinity
of 4,000 flash cards.

Standing in the line
at the grocery store,

going through my flash cards,
at a stop light.

- Note cards.
- Flash cards.

We are going to have a bonfire
with all of his note cards.

And I go to bed if I can,
but sometimes I'll be like,

"you can't remember
that flash card."

You go back to the desk
for a quick second.

You're just manic.
It's crazy.

It's a blank one.

Sometimes you get so tired
that you forget to write
the answer on it.

That's the worst part.

Ian's day is definitely
different.

He, uh,
he sleeps in very late.

He's more
of a night guy,

so he does his studying
at late night.

Ian's big at tracing maps.

Before you can study a specific
region of the world,

you have to understand
the geography of it,

so I've found that, um, tracing
maps has been a huge help.

What I do is,
I'll take a major map area

from some professional site
and lay it over the top,

and then trace it,

and then basically
look at a number,

and I should know
where that region is

and how it refers
to the world of wine.

And I should know
the laws about it,

so, you know, mentrida
or wherever it might be,

or rioja,
what the subregions are,

or cantabria...
, or wherever it might be.

You know, if you try to
remember something,

and you don't have a specific
reference to where that area is,

it doesn't really
make any sense.

Now, when I get a question,

immediately, my mind goes to
a specific area of the world,

I can see a map
and see the region,

and then, the information
unfolds in my brain,

and that's how I kind of, um,
now memorize information

and catalogue it
in my brain,

because, you know,
the mind's weird,

and... and if you create
these geographical locations,

you can then
store information there.

I don't know how that works,

but, uh, it, uh, it does.
It does.

- Ian...
- Ian is...
Is tracing maps and...

- Ian is, uh...
- Sitting in front of Skype,
waiting for me to call him.

Ian is hard
to be around right now.

I'm about to call Dustin Wilson
on Skype in about 20 minutes,

and trying to, you know, make
sure I know my flash cards,

or else he's gonna, you know,
break me down and, uh...

I think he feels like

if he doesn't put enough
pressure on himself,
then he's not doing it right.

You wake up, and what is
your first thought?

You know, it's...

The flash cards
you haven't remembered.

It's the wines that could
possibly come up on the exam

that you don't completely feel,
you know, confident with.

If Dustin and I
did that to ourselves,

we'd be, like, crying
in the fetal position.

This is just--
it's just pure dedication.

It's just pure obsession.
There's no other way around it.

But somehow,
he puts himself through hell,

and manages to show up
on game day and perform.

I've seen it
time and time again,

at competitions and exams.
We love the guy.

We want to see him crush,
but we don't--

he's not doing himself
any favors right now.

It's the only way he knows
how to be for this stuff.

I think
sleep's very important.

Sleep's incredibly important

for you to be able to retain
knowledge and-- and do this.

Um...

Where was I...
What was I talking about?

He's the only person that can be
that way and still pull it out.

It's possible
that it'll never stop,

but then it's possible that,
nine days from now,

it'll be over,

and the thought of that
is just so amazing--

the thought of, like, when I sit
there and think about,

the feeling
if I do pass this exam.

It will just be
the most glorious thing

ever to have happened,
you know?

And it's, like, all I want,
is to pass this, so bad.

I want it to be done.

I dream about
being on a beach

without a thought
of a flash card.

I dream about, like, you know,
drinking a beer,

and, like, just not thinking
about wine for a little bit.

I wonder if I can.
Like, I just doubt I can.

I-I want to pass this
and be done with it,

and I want my life to start,
and my marriage to be cool.

To get back to a normal life
would be phenomenal.

You know? I do have a wife,
I've been told.

You know, Rachel's
been watching me do this

for our entire relationship.

We're gonna have a ton of time
to actually go on a date.

All the work that I've done,
what I've learned,

I just have to let it--
let it happen, really.

The other thing that will
take tremendous focus

is trying to
steer clear of Ian--

sorry, buddy, to say this--

steering clear of him
at the exam,

'cause he is going to want
to just pound flash cards,

and just sit there
and do theory all day.

All right, yeah, I need about
two minutes to get set up here.

You know, usually
we take our clothes off,

um, but, uh, tonight, we're
gonna leave our clothes on.

Uh... boutage.

Boutage is, uh, taking the dirt
and covering the stump

and the base of the roots,
usually protecting from frost.

Good. The name of
the bacteria...?

That causes
Pierce's disease.

Oh, it's spread by the glassy
winged sharpshooter.

Oh, we talked about
this one.

So if I said, "name three
bacterial diseases,"

you would say, "three
bacterial diseases are,

Pierce's disease, crown
gall, bacterial blight."

All right, buddy,
well, listen, uh,

tomorrow night, midnight,
see you then.

- Okay.
- Later, buddy.

- Good night.
- All right, good work. 'Bye.

When you work in a restaurant,
if you have a tough table

or uncooperative clients,

or people that are
just plain nasty,

you don't just
throw up your hands,
pack your bags, and leave.

Let's go do service.

Dlynn, you're gonna start
at number three,
in the back with Fred.

What we set up was an almost
impossible situation--

and it was
planned that way--

to see how these candidates
responded

under a tremendous pressure from
two very difficult customers.

You like...?

- Pink wine.
- Pink wine. Wonderful.

- How do we like it, gene?
- Cold!

- Very cold.
- Cold.

- You know how you
spell cold, son?
- C-o-l-d.

Okay.
It's cold now.

You would probably like
your white wine or roseé wine

to be at--
at about 48 to 53 degrees.

- You know what
conversion is?
- Pardon?

Conversion. I want you
to convert this wine.

- To-- to celsius?
- Cold.

Cold, cold, cold.
Cold. Cold.

Well, uh,
yes, indeed, uh...

Co-oo-old.

I can't express myself
any more clearly.

Because-- because
I'm making you wait,

I will take care
of the cocktails for you.

- I just want cold wine.
- Now he's trying to bribe us
with free drinks!

What kind of operation
you runnin' here, son? Cold!

We want cold wine.

Maybe we should spell it out
and hold it up. "Cold."

- Maybe.
- Let me try that.
See, co-oo-old. Cold.

Gentlemen, I believe
this may do it for you.

And I apologize,
I'm currently out of the 1998.

I do have the 1997 littorai,
1997 vin gris.

Okay.
Let's do it.

Let's have some.
That's as cold as
it's gonna get, right?

Yes, indeed.

Brutal. Absolutely brutal.

Chilling wine is
a very tough thing to do,

but there are some really
great tricks to it

if you know what you're doing,
and not very many of them did,

so as a result,
it was a total failure.

If you don't
know it, get out,

you don't deserve
to be a somm.

Fix it,
learn it, do it, go.

Okay, today's tasting is for
Brian mcclintic.

I see him at his exam
in a couple of weeks,

and, uh, the reds I picked
are pretty straightforward--

just a couple of little twists
today, see if he's on his game.

Fred Dame is...
He's larger than life.

He is-- he is
such a personality.

I think that
most other candidates

as well as most other masters
would probably agree with me

that Fred is probably one
of the most intimidating people

in the entire court.

I was afraid of Fred.

The whites
are kind of funny today,

because I picked,
uh, aromatic whites--

two aromatic whites to start,
which are always difficult.

Fred dame is supposed to instill
the fear of god in people.

We'll see if Mr. Mcclintic has
his, uh, has his wits about him.

I've heard legends about
his tasting abilities.

The legend of him
"daming" the exam.

I've heard the story
that he went to his m.S. Exam.

"Daming" it means that
you just smell it,

and you know the vintage,
the grape variety, the country,

the subregion,
just on the nose.

So, uh, you know,
it's kind of like three seconds,

say, "what is it?"

You've got how many days
left there, champ?

We have ten days left.

- You ready?
- Ready as I'm gonna be.

- That's not good enough.
- Yes, I'm ready.

That's a better answer.
I don't want to hear
that other kind of answer.

Very intriguing.
Why do you--

you find this amusing?
This is it.

- You've got ten days.
- All right.

- Otherwise it's another year.
Wanna wait another year?
- No.

- No, that would suck,
wouldn't it?
- That would suck.

He still, to some degree,
intimidates me.

Six wines, 25 minutes.

And I need your best effort.

- Give you everything I got.
- That's what I expect.

Fred dame's got
a photographic memory.

You can click down
five dominoes,

and realize where
those dominoes are gonna go.
Fred can do a thousand.

You like the little trap I laid
for you? You sure fell for it.

Did I?
That doesn't sound good.

- Two and three.
- Did I flip-flop 'em?

No, the minute you
called chardonnay,
I knew you were doomed,

'cause the third one
is a chardonnay.

He can be really scary.

I've seen him yell at people
during their tastings.

You punished yourself because
you went to the old world.

- Remember,
this is the masters.
- Right.

- Can't do that.
- That hurt.
Here.

He's a lot more fun
after a glass of wine.

Even more fun after two.

Your comment, "the only thing
that comes to mind..."

Possible grape varietals
include...

I consider muscadet
neutral.

Pinot grigio's
neutral, chablis.

The only things
that are coming to mind.

I don't give a squat
what comes to your mind.

Neither does anybody else.

And all this "I think" and all,
is just wasting time, all right?

Get rid of it.
Now, number five.

This sucks.

He said, "let's go play some
pool. I'm really good at it."

And, uh, I went,
"this guy does everything!"

I mean, and you know, I was
Wisconsin junior state champion,

and I was
a road player, right?

I played-- i'm-- I'm fairly
proficient in pocket billiards,

and I went, "Fred plays--
this guy is a god, right?"

And then, we went fishing,
and I brought up all this wine

to impress
the great Fred dame, right?

So I brought up
these really fancy wines,

and so, we're going
Halibut fishing--

pretty bloody,
gutty kind of fishing.

There's a lot of shooting
the Halibut in the brain
so it dies...

And we went to this little
upscale poolroom in Aspen.

And he goes, "Mr. Bjornholm,
bring the 1990 jamet cote rotie.

It's fantastic stuff."

I said, "well, Fred,
you know, come on,

we're out in
the middle of the ocean,

and we can't bring glass
on the boat and, you know,

there's blood
and guts every--"

and he's like,
"Mr. Bjornholm..."

But I was so scared, I drank
wine like it was water,

which I've never done in my life
till that point then,

and I've never done it again.

I drank it like a glass
of water. Glug glug glug.

I was scared of Fred dame.

Oh, man, there was, like,
octopus, you know,

wrapping around my leg
and gripping onto me,

and I'm sitting there
with this styrofoam cup

of one of the greatest wines,

one of the greatest
vintages of cote rotie,

from one of
the greatest producers.

And Fred's like, "Mr. Bjornholm,
pour me some!"

I put a cue in his hand,

and in two seconds, I went,
"this guy is a man,"

because he couldn't
play at all! Ha ha!

And to this day,

it remains the greatest "glass"
of wine I've ever had.

Back to the drawing board.
Couldn't get 'em out now.

No, no. Now, that-- that is
absolutely the wrong attitude.

That-- you have no chance.
Don't even bother going.
Save the money.

You're not going
back to the drawing board.

You're doing exactly
what you did, all right?

You're a very good taster.
All the things are there.

- Just don't make it
harder than it is.
- Thank you.

- Nice job.
- Thanks for taking the time.

- This is helpful.
- You're gonna be okay.

Believe me,
when I was actually

going through the whole process,
there were a number of times

where I asked myself
whether I was actually--
why I was doing it.

Six months later,

suddenly the phone starts
ringing for opportunities--

um, to travel, to speak,
um, to teach.

Slowly but surely,

your life gets better
and better and better,

and i'm
a great example of that.

When I first
started in this program,
I didn't even own a suit.

I borrowed a suit
for the master's exam.

It has been valuable
beyond words for me,

for my business,

and I'm sure that these guys
will probably figure that out
when they pass as well.

Your head looks like it's
in good shape, nice and shaved.

- It's a little
scruffly today.
- A little scruffy today?

- I'll be nice and polished
up for the exam, though.
- Excellent.

Your tastings have
always been very fluid.

They have great pacing,
with a lot of great
descriptors,

and I suspect that today
will be no different.

Ian, haven't seen you
in a little bit,

but you've been
tasting well, I hear.

So, we'll go through this
tasting, and remember, um,

it's a timed tasting.

- Are you doing
relaxation techniques?
- Absolutely not.

I drink coffee all the time
and stay up late and study.

Well, relax.
Take care of yourself.

Eat right. Sleep right.

Go watch a movie,
go have a massage.

Do the things
that'll help you relax.

- Doesn't that sound good?
- Sounds good.

But I really think that
that's a key thing,

but above all, especially now,
as you get closer,

and you can tell that
there's kind of like

the light at the end of
the tunnel, so to speak,

um, anxiety and nervousness
manifests itself

in different ways
with different people.

So just, you know,
maybe for the next week or so,

um, maybe do one or two
more tastings and relax.

So when you get to
the first one,

I'll go ahead
and start timing you.

- Ready?
- Yep. When you're
ready, you're ready.

Wine one is a white wine.
The wine is clear.
The wine is day bright.

There is no evidence of gas
or flocculation in my glass.

Nose is clean, youthful.
Medium-plus intensity of aromas.

We've got
kind of candied citrus here.

- Lemon curd.
- Really ripe lemon,
candied lemon.

Palate?

Dry wine.
Medium-plus body.

Alcohol.

Wine's dry.
Medium-plus body.

Wine is dry. Full body.

No signs of new oak
on the wine.

There's a lot of new French oak
on this wine.

Appears to be
some oak on this wine,

some vanilla, some clove,
cinnamon, baking spices.

Cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom,
baking spices.

I want to change that.

There is cinnamon,
nutmeg, clove, vanilla,
some baking spices.

Acid's medium.

Acidity on the wine is...
...medium.

Acid is, uh, medium-plus.

In its conclusion,
this is an old world wine...

Possible grape varietals include
chardonnay, marsanne-roussanne.

This wine is from the new world,
from a warm climate,

due to the medium acid
and the high alcohol.

Very glossy, very extracted,
lots of glycerol.

Chardonnay from burgundy.

It's possible this is a very
ripe, modern burgundy as well,

but I have to go
with my gut here.

Final conclusion, this is
chardonnay, from France.

It's from burgundy.

I'm gonna say
old world, France.

Um, it's burgundy.

Uh... I'll call this
2006.

Final conclusion, this wine
is from the United States.

This wine is from
California.

This wine is from
sonoma county.

This wine is from
the Russian river valley.

The grape is chardonnay, um,
from the 2008 vintage,

from a high-quality producer.

Wine number two is a...

White wine.
The wine is clear.

- Viscosity is...
- Medium-plus.

- Medium-plus.
- I'd call viscosity
high on this as well.

- The nose of the wine
is clean...
- Clean, youthful.

First thing that's
coming out here is
some peachy apricot notes.

- Canned peaches.
- Little bit of peach--
slightly oxidized white peach.

Doesn't appear to be
any new oak on the wine.

- No signs of oak.
- Light hint of oak
on the palate.

- Well, this wine is dry.
- The wine is dry.

The acid is medium-minus.

- Medium-minus.
- Medium.

- Alcohol is high.
- High.

- High.
- This is viognier
from France,

from rhone valley,
northern rhone.

- This is condrieu.
- I think this wine
is from France.

This wine is from
the rhone valley.

This wine is from
the northern rhone valley.

This is a rousanne-marsanne
blend from the hill
of hermitage.

New world. North America.
California.

Clos viognier,
from sonoma county,

two thousand and...
2009 vintage.

Wine number three is a clear,
star bright white wine.

It is clean, youthful,
uh, again,

high intensity of aromas.

Fantastic. Not sure
where to go with this.

I'm gonna go back that wine.
Whew. Wine number five...

Flailing here. Um...

Wine is well balanced, uh,
with a medium-plus length,

medium-plus complexity.
Initial conclusion

uh, falling apart here.

Um...

Call it a brunello
di montalcino, 2004...

Stop. Stop the time.
When you go in
and you take that test,

you're gonna have exactly
the same kind of feelings,

- right?
- Yeah.

It's gonna be this feeling
of helplessness,

that if I take a left turn,

my back's gonna be
against the wall,
so this is a good thing.

At this point, you know,
being so close to the exam,

I was kind of keeping
my fingers crossed for
a confidence booster.

This is what
wine number two is,

and you might be
familiar with this.

Oh, my god. Oh, my god!

This is a wine that, for you,
didn't have much oak on it.

- Is this po-- is this
happening right now?
- I don't know. You tell me.

Not a perfect flight today.
I wouldn't have passed my m.S.

- This is what this wine is.
- It's new world, chard. Yep.

Did it smell
like chardonnay?

It does smell
like chardonnay.

Did it taste
like chardonnay?

It does taste
like chardonnay.

Kind of the same
thing we had

when we had the older white
burgundy before, right?

Does it look like burgundy?
Does it taste like burgundy?

It does not taste
like burgundy.

At this point, I need to--

I need to chill,
'cause I'm way too worked up.

This is what wine number...
Two is.

I think, uh...
Will you smell this wine?

This is my wine one.
I think that
you had switched them.

I didn't
pour the wine, so...

Woman: I poured
the reds, but--

that's California chardonnay.
This is hermitage.

- No. We got it right.
- Really? Could you show me--?

- Woman: Everybody
struggled with this.
- Really?

Wine number two is sweeter
than wine number one.

I'm tasting this right now,
and I taste beringer.

I sell a lot of it.
I'm tasting this, and...
So you guys poured these?

- Let's leave it at that
for now. You can revisit it--
- okay, that's no problem.

We'll taste them in a minute.
I'm just very confused.
I go back to them.

But there's a reason
why I put 'em side by side.

Okay? So let's go
to wine number three.

But I think
you would have agreed,

and I think you even said this,
but it's like dried red fruit.

It's dried red fruit.
You keep going back
to wine number one.

Yeah, I just-- I just--
it's just interesting.

So, dried, uh-- so dried red
fruit, um, pomegranate, so...

Could you pass me that bottle,
of hermitage?

Woman: Here.
Now you can definitively...

So, Ian, what I
would say is,

'cause I thought
you did a great job.

I would focus a little bit
on my non-fruit aromas,

especially some of those
other ones, you know,

and whether it be honey,
whether it be tar or spice.

And then, um, some of
the wood indicators,

because I think that number--
wine number two has some
definitive oak indicators

in there that, uh,
is very, very strong,

as well as all three
of the white wines,

to be honest with you.
Um...

But other than that,
I really don't have much to--

to criticize you for,
because I thought
you did a great job.

Going back to them afterwards,
you know,

I think I called the right
wines, wine one and two, so...

I know that Ian thought that
the wines were switched up,

and he probably thinks that
as he's driving away,

but I did smell the wines,

and the wines
were correctly poured.

I just didn't believe it.

It was like somebody told me
that I had brown hair.

It's like, I know I don't.

That's what you see,
you know?

I'm sure a lot of that was
predicated on the anxiety

and the nervousness that
he's starting to feel now,

and I'm sure that
as the week goes on,

it'll probably
just get worse.

With regards to Ian,
Dustin, and myself,

I think the best-case scenario
is obvious.

It's ...The, uh, the worst-case
scenario that's not so obvious.

How do I put this?
We, uh... Ian, Dustin, and I

are like, uh,

about as close as three people
could be right now.

We... I don't know.

Dustin and I
moved in together.

Ian and I have studied
for the advanced together,

and we spend pretty much all
of our waking time together.

We're completely dependent
on each other,

and... if all of us
don't get through,

it's all good,

because we still
have each other,

we still have
the core intact.

But if one of us passes,
it's still all good,

'cause two of us
are happy for that person,

and, you know,

the two people
still have each other.

But the worst-case
scenario is...

If two of us pass,
and one of us doesn't.

And I've thought
a lot about that,

and the reason why
it'd be bad is because

that one person is all alone,
completely alone.

He's all by himself.

And when those other two get
through, he's happy for them,

but he's pretty much
clapping by himself

when they get announced
as masters.

And... when the other two
get through,

their-- their job is done.

They're not gonna
go back to that court.

It'll be completely done,

and that person
will have to...

That person will have to, like,
hike Everest by themself,

or find another group to latch
onto, because this test is...

It--it's almost impossible
to pass, but without people,

it's--
it's incomprehensible.

Now these guys now,
there's fear.

There's fear
in their heart of failure.

There's fear of,
of someone telling you

that you're
not good enough.

The masters have pretty much
already accepted me as family,

so I have to deliver.

There is hope in
their hearts right now,

that they will pass this exam
and not have to study anymore.

We want to live
our lives again,

and we can't
until this is over.

And, uh, that thought
is always there, you know?

And I keep thinking about, if
I don't get through, you know,

it's all good, you know,
I'll learn more,

but I'm a married man, you know.
I want to be a husband.

There's a little bit of,
uh, self-doubt.

I'm glad that
I'm kind of worked up

and falling apart
right now,

because it allows me
the chance to rebuild.

There's a lot of
self-confidence.

I have been, you know,
tasting incredibly well

for the last six weeks, the best
I've ever tasted in my life,

and if I just continue this
going and, I think, use my gut,

um... uh... it's good.

What I tried to inspire
is that you are a warrior,

and that you must
go in and fight,

and that you're not afraid.

You have to fight the good fight
at every opportunity you have

to pass
this examination.

You have your passport?

Passport? Got it.
It's in my back pocket.

Woman: Dustin realized
he didn't have an I.D.

Hey! Grab your lunch sack,
Dustin Wilson!

- Do you feel ready?
- I feel ready.

- I feel ready.
- Yeah.

I feel 100% ready.

I don't feel like we've wasted
any time since we've moved here.

It's almost surreal,
tell you the truth.

I'm ready to-- to, uh...
For this week to happen.

The extra 16 pounds
of wine, and...

Have a good day at work.
Call you when I get there.

I'm going to Dallas.

- What flight, sir?
- Uh, 305.

It's weird, drop-- dropping him
off at the airport, and...

I'm actually really nervous.

I want to say he will pass,
but... just nervous.

Can't wait till Friday comes,
and... then I can just...

I want to know right now.

Oh, my god.
They're disgusting.

This is crazy.
It is crazy.

This five days is gonna
be horrible, I can tell.

Dustin's dreamin' about
takin' his theory exam

and answering
every single question right.

He's thinking about
lining up a flight of wines

and just
knockin' 'em back.

Not a care
in the world.

This is how you handle
stress before a big test,

right here,
ladies and gentlemen.

Is that Ian? Yep.

- Oh, you ready for this?
- Hell yeah, man.
Let's do it.

I'm feeling more relaxed
than I was last week.

Yeah?

Yeah, it's nice to be here.

Just gotta let it flow,
let things happen.

I know that-- I know it's
gonna be a fair test this year.

That's what they've
made it very clear.

They know that a lot of us
got that exam last year

that was, I think,
a little bit aggressive,

in terms of difficulty.

The regions of alsace-Lorraine

share a turbulent history
as a buffer

between
France and Germany.

The alsatian culture reflects
cumulative elements

of both societies.

This is fun stuff.

It's 1:20 in the afternoon
right now,

the day before
the tasting exam.

Our fearless father
is over there asleep.

He's on a strange
sleeping schedule.

How many hours do you plan to
study between now and tomorrow?

I'll probably do six hours of
cards tonight. Just review.

And then, I'll probably
do a lot, like,
ten hours tomorrow.

Some serious
intensity, dude.

Dude, I don't want
to take this thing again.

Oh, sorry. P-r-o-c-t-o-r.
Proctor. Proctor, last name.

I just hung up with my doc,
Dr. Calley.

I want to make sure my nose
is-- is a, a-okay.

Man, I have got to make sure
there's no dryness.

This side's working,
this side's clogged,

then it hops over here,
this side's clogged,
that side's working.

People always talk about
the hype of tasting

being 85% nose.

Well, at the end of the day,
it's true.

Right now, I'm at
the doctor's office

so she can check on
my left nostril, man,

and make sure
it's good to go.

My right one's clear,
my left one's closed.

That kind of sucks
for a somm,

when you can't smell anything,
you know what I mean?

That's like a--
a runner without any legs.

I wanted, like, just one steroid
that I could sleep on overnight,

and when I woke up, the steroid
will have kicked in

if I took it now.

But she was like, "honestly,
you don't need that.

Your nose
is not bad enough."

So I'm just gonna clean it with
a neti pot in the morning,

and tonight, I am going to hit
one dose of afrin

in the left nostril,

wake up in the morning,
one more dose,

and it's done. And also,
she took a look at my finger

that I cut the tip off of,
basically,

and she was like,
"uh, you needed stitches."

And I was like, "I don't need
no stinkin' stitches,"

but, yeah,
I needed stitches.

Dusty's in a funny place
right now.

It's like...
I feel, like, abandoned.

Like, he's my man-wife,
and I feel abandoned,

like he went to
the dark side with sabato,

and they're just, like,
studying together.

How about the rules
for moelleux?

Which of these is longer:
Special reserve
or extra reserve?

Uh, village in anjou that can
add its name to anjou-villages.

Wanna have a coffee-chugging
contest?

I think part of it might be

he just wants to get away
from cauble,

and I'm kind of
lumped into that equation,

'cause I'm roomin'
with cauble.

It all comes down
to tasting.

If you're a betting man,

you can bet on theory--
you can bet on service, too--

and feel like, you know,
that's a good bet,

but very few people
can you bet on in tasting.

You just don't know
how it's gonna play out.

On the nose, this wine
is clean, no obvious flaws.

This wine has a moderate-plus
intensity.

This wine is youthful.

Bruised apple, bruised pear,

bruised peach. Honeysuckle,
chamomile, lavender,

slight botrytis,
limestone, wet wool.

Hay, pistachio, tea.

You guys pumped?
"Whoa, team," anybody?

Oh. Uh, that's two.

Oh! Look what happened!
Look what happened!

And... what should we say?
Dad. Here's to dad.

- Here's to dad.
- One, two, three.

- All: Dad!
- I'm getting emotional.

We're your children.
We always will be.

Thank you.
Even though I'm the youngest.

It's kind of weird, but...

Some people
are just old souls.

They're born
to be fathers, you know?

The metamorphosis begins.

I've already got the haircut.

Time to clean it up from, uh,

the unkempt mountain man look.

So... beard is goin' bye-bye.

Daddy's a young kid again!

But that's essentially
the bare bones

of what I'm gonna look like
mañanafor the test.

You're not ironing your tie.

You think I'm gonna
wear a wrinkled tie?

- Yeah.
- Well, maybe not today.

- Gentlemen, good morning.
- Good morning.

Mr. Cauble.

- Had a feeling you
were coming for me.
- Why?

I don't know. Just 'cause you
had that smile on your face.

I always have
a smile on my face.
Good to see you too.

So, you walk with them,

which feels like you're walking,
like, from hands across america,

coast to coast, which is
essentially just a room

that's 200 yards away,

but it's like
the death row walk.

And the m.S. Is talking to you,
and they're--

they're giving you-- they're
like, "so, how you feel?"

And they know darn well
that you're, you know,

for lack of a better word,
crappin' bricks.

And you really don't even
want to talk to them.

You just want to get in there
and get it over with,

and you walk in this room,
and the first thing

you usually see are
your wines sittin' there,

three whites
and three reds...

And four m.S.'S looking
across a table from you,

and so, you sit down,
and everything's super formal,

and, uh, they say something
to the effect of,

"well, thank you for
coming here. How do you feel?"

And you say something like,

"it's been an honor,"
which it has.

And then, they're like,
"you have 25 minutes.

"I will start the clock when
you touch your first wine.

We'll start
when you're ready."

I don't know
what I can compare it to,

but I've felt that before.
I've felt that moment

where it's almost like
an out-of-body experience.

It usually happened in sports,
when the game's on the line.

In the bottom of the ninth,
with two outs,

and you're standing
in the plate,

and you're almost
not even in your own body
because it's so surreal.

You don't hear the crowd,
you don't hear anything.

You don't even really
remember anything.

I can't believe
this is so surreal.

It's medium-minus acid.

I'm nervous, but think how
nervous my wines are right now,

just sitting there
in a glass right now,

trembling as i'm
about to devour 'em.

How nervous are my wines?

I wanna do it for my wife...
More than anything.

More than anything.

'Cause she is, uh...

She-- she deserves
to have me

not buried in a wine book
or buried in note cards

or buried in wine glasses.

You know,
she deserves a husband.

It's time, so... that'd be
a pretty cool gift to give her.

Ice on the ground. Wow.

Medium-plus acid.

It's 11:00. Those guys have
already tasted, Ian and Brian.

Dustin hasn't.
He's right after me.

This is all a sheet of ice.
That's fun.

Why don't people know
how to drive in this, man?

Seriously. You can't-- you have
to have momentum, dude.

High gear! High gear!

We are here, brother.

This is the second year Dustin
and I have taken it together,

and we usually
kind of remove ourselves

from the rest
of the world.

It's nice to kind of
escape that chaos,

and all the pandemonium
that goes on around it,

so we can kind of relax
beforehand,

'cause there's
enough stress

without all those people around,
so we do our thing here,

and then go over
and taste six wines,

come back and regroup and get
ready for the next stage.

The first thing that
happens when everybody
gets out of the tasting

is they want to find the other
people that were tasting

simultaneously
in another room.

And you beat yourself up
because someone called this,
or someone called that.

There were two wines I knew,
and there were

four wines that it came down
to two things on,

and I could have flip-flopped
all of those,

I could have
hit all of 'em.

It's gonna be really interesting
to see what Ian called,

and some other people,
talkin' to them.

I think either my heart will
sink or my heart will be happy

after talking to them.

Cauble, it's me.

Just open the door, dude.

I was sleeping right now.
I assumed you had a key.

You've slept,
like, 15 hours.

- Yeah, I'm stressed out.
- Have you talked to anyone?

No, dude,
I've been freaking, like,
just totally going nuts here.

- Wine three.
- Uh, wine three,
I called albariño.

- Really?
- What'd you call it?

Saint-cyr.

I didn't pick up
on the pyrazine.

Dude, wine three
was super-peachy,
and it was bitter as fuck.

I may have goofed that one,
dude. Wine five?

Wine five, I was torn, dude.

I first called it barolo,

and I changed it to
brunello, '95.

- Okay. I called it barolo.
- Wine six I called barolo.

Oh, really?

Wine six had tannin
that ripped my face off.

- What'd you call that?
- I called it rioja.

It was translucent,
it was lifted.

I thought it was classic barolo
on wine five, and the tannin--

- six, did you really
smell American oak?
- No.

Jesus, dude. I was hoping you
were gonna call the same wines.

I was gonna
hope you were like,

"oh, Brian's gonna come up
and call the same wines!
We're gonna feel great!"

Why that's bad-- why that's--

why that's good and why it's bad
that we're doing this is, like,

I hope both of us pass,
you know, 'cause we...

That's the worst
part about it.

...we called completely
different things on three wines.

And now, the worst part is,
I don't think it's possible
we both passed,

'cause one of us
can't be right,

not unless we
split the difference,

and we both get enough
points to get through.

- That sucks, dude.
- Dude, shit!

Well, I'm ready to get up,
quit being a--

dude, I had a fuckin' crazy--
I had crazy dreams.

I had a dream that I was
walking by the tasting room,

and, like, I saw a bottle of
old rioja. I'm like, "oh, no!"

Dude, you look like
Michael Douglas
in falling down.

I mean, it's retarded.
Let's see what other
people called.

It is what it is now.

If I could high-five the camera,
I would high-five the camera.

What else do you do?
You just call 'em and go.

It's a lovely tasting.
Hey, what do you do?
I'm happy.

- What'd you call it?
- One, I called beaujolais.

Fuck! I called chinon.

Did you?
I never call chinon!

That was chinon, man.

That was touraine chinon
'09 cabernet franc.
It was beautiful.

The next red, um, was, uh,
tannic. What'd you call--?

- Nebbiolo.
- I called nebbiolo.

- I called barolo.
- What year?

- '01.
- I called '01 too.

I called five barolo riserva
from 2000,

and I called six left bank
third growth Bordeaux 2000,

uh, 1855 classification
cabernet sauvignon.

- I called rioja.
- Did you? I didn't
get American oak.

Wine number one, I'm like,
is this Pinot grigio,

- is this chenin?
- I called chenin on wine one.

Ooh, I called, uh, grand cru
alsatian Riesling on it.

It's chenin, dude.
It's sauvenieère. The wine spoke.

It was wooly, it was funky,
it was wonderful, it was nasty,

it was great,
all at the same time.

Aussie Riesling for two.

No. It's definitely
not aussie Riesling.

Especially when you called
alsatian Riesling
for the first one.

Can of green beans, man.
It was gruüner.

It was flowery.

There was petulance in it,
and I ended up calling, um...

- Did you call albariño?
- Albariño, yeah.

- It was super-limey to me.
- I want to go play
flag football

with those guys right now,
I'll tell you that, though.

- We're totally lost now.
- We're more confused
than before.

We've got to go talk
to the other boys.

See what everybody
else called.

The reality is,

you have no clue
what the wines are,
even when you think you do.

So you torture yourself,

and that's
very important to do.

The important thing to do
is to torture yourself

over the next 36 hours
and say,

"well, but it could
have been gruüner.

No, wait a minute--
I think it was albariño."

It wasn't rhone.

It wasn't albariño
if it was pale like that,

so, where do you go?
Do you go Saint-cyr?

You called pyrazines.
I was looking for
pyrazines.

- I got grapefruit.
- I didn't look for it.
They hit me in the face.

Okay, they hit you.
Yeah, yeah.

Sauvignon blanc
is so gettable,

that the fact that no one in
this room called sauvignon blanc
scares the crap out of me.

- That was a cruel flight.
- It was.

- I thought it was
a fun flight.
- It's diabolical.

It sounds so ridiculous,
because, you know,

it's fermented grape juice.
I mean, you know what I mean?

- Are we in agreement
that six is an older wine?
- Yeah.

I called Italian, Italian.

I called brunell--
barolo, brunello.

And then I was like...
Just gotta roll with it.

Five and six,
you called Italian both?

- I called four and five
both Italian, actually.
- That what you did?

The good news is if everybody's
all over the place,

probably someone passed.

It's just combinations.

Pass or fail, they will never
tell you what the wines were.

You know, you've just--
you've got to stay in it

if you really
want it, you know?

It's a test of dedication.

This whole process,
you know,

it's-- it's full of
confidence and doubt

within
the same ten minutes,

and, like, you know,
it's like it just doesn't stop.

I had a marathon day last night
at Dustin and sabato's house...

Or room.

We had, like, 13 or 14 hours of
just straight review.

And I came home about
12:30 or 1:00, and, uh...

I couldn't sleep till 5:00.

I just kept on going through
regions in my head.

It was crazy.

Today it's possible I become
a master sommelier.

We all have
a fear of failure.

We all have
a fear of being judged.

You're working so hard, people
tell you, you didn't make it.

Well, there's so much honor
in trying.

Being in the room when
someone hasn't passed

is the reason
I don't do this anymore.

I do the masters every
three years because I have to.

I've done it
for over 25 years.

I've probably
failed more people

than any other human being
on the planet,

but it is one of the hardest
things in my life

I've ever had to do, every year,
over and over again.

And after a while,
it just gets to you,

because you know
how hard they worked.

They come through your house,
and they taste,

and you get to know them
as people and all that,

but, you know,
exam day's exam day.

It's like game day.
You know,

there's only
gonna be one outcome.

And what
could have happened, did.

Why do we keep finding ourselves
in this position,

you and me? Hmm? Didn't I just
see you a couple of weeks ago?

- Yeah.
- Didn't we have
a very hard conversation?

- Yeah.
- Yeah? How do you
feel about it?

- Don't know.
- You don't know?
You're not confident?

- I'm confident,
but I don't know.
- Okay. Fair enough.

Well, this is one of those
interesting moments in a career.

So I'm pleased
to tell you, sir,

that you'll be wearing
the red badge... from then on.

And, master, it is an honor,
an honorto work with you.

Thank you.

- Well done.
- Thanks, man.

- Well done.
- Appreciate it.

Put a smile on that face
and go out there, huh?

Show those pearly whites.
Least she made you
brush your teeth,

as well as shave and clean up.
Don't you love him?

- Well, have a seat.
- Thank you.

That's kind of like
the gunfighter coat.
I kind of like that.

Thank you.

- So, how are you this week?
- I'm okay.

- Come on.
- No, I'm okay.

At the end of the day,
I'm okay.

- 'Kay.
- We all work our
butts off, seriously.

Let me
give you the results.

Um... it-- it-- you had
one part coming in,

and, uh, I'm sorry to tell you
that, uh, we didn't pick
anything up.

However, I... that is...
That being said,

we're gonna have
a very serious conversation,

because you were
immensely close, um,

and dramatic improvement.

So, we'll have
that conversation.

I don't want you to, uh,
think that you haven't improved.

You've improved dramatically.
That's what's important.

I was impressed.

And I think you have
the greatest potential
and a great future.

So... keep that head up.
We still have work to do.

- We'll do it again.
- We'll do it again.

Um... you did okay this time.

Did all right here.

We, uh... we got through
that theory part,

which is great, you know?
This is awesome.

You did an awesome job on
that theory, and, um,

you know, tasting,
you're gonna have to--

you're gonna have
to be working with tasting.

You're gonna have to be
working with those, uh,

with those candidates that
you're gonna be training
from now on, master. Okay?

Whoo!

Congratulations, brother.

You made it.
All that hard work.

And you finally--
you finally brought it to

the promised land
there, right?

- Ohh! Thanks, Jay.
- You're welcome, brother.

I'll talk to you
a little bit more about,

uh, a little bit more
about it later, all right?

Whew.

How are you?

- I'm all right, man.
- How you feelin'?

- Feel good.
- Glad it's over?

- Very.
- How'd you think
you did there?

Theory felt good, tasting,
I think I was on the border.

You passed theory.
We got that out of the way.

Your tasting, you still need
to take again, unfortunately.

We, uh, you know,
we came close.
We got one more piece.

Keep up the good work,
and just keep, uh,

you just got tasting
to bang on now.

You don't have to study
those books, so that's
a good thing, right?

- That's so refreshing,
- all right, excellent.

- Thank you so much.
- You're welcome.

Come on
and grab a glass, babe.

I was the first one
to go in, huh?

My heart was going freaking
crazy, walking into that room.

Um, I had
an out-of-body experience.

I was watching myself
in the chair, with dame.

- He was messing
with me, as usual.
- Right.

I'm trying to remember
what he said. Some clink.

So now what?
What are we gonna do?

Burn the note cards, dude.
We're having a bonfire.

Brian-- Brian mcclintic?!

You know, Brian used to be...
He was kind of a Colorado boy.

You know, he was there
in my town, in Aspen,

for a little while, but, uh,
he's back in California,

where he belongs.
Congratulations.

- Thanks.
- Here's your tie
and your pin, sir.

- Congratulations.
- Thank you. All right.

Picture with Dmitri and I.

Hold the diploma up, bro.

The new master sommelier,
we have Mr. Dustin Wilson.

Formerly of the little Nell
hotel in Aspen, Colorado.

Nowrn74 in San Francisco.

He's hanging out
with big guys

like raj parr
and whatnot, right?

So he's there today,

and here he is today
with his master diploma.
Congratulations, Dustin.

I know I was nervous,
um, before he... like,

before he left for the exam,

but... it's when I got
the phone call from my sister,

and telling me that Brian and
Dustin passed, but Ian didn't.

I was at work.
I still remember,
it was on a Friday.

So that whole afternoon,

I was just sitting
in the break room, crying,
the whole entire afternoon.

Uh, when
Dustin and I passed,

uh, it was a big deal
for both of us.

You know, we...
Got to go home to our wives,

we celebrated,
we partied.

Ian, I have to imagine,
for him,

it was exactly
the opposite, you know?

He probably
dreaded coming home,

having to face his friends,
his girlfriend.

He really, really
wanted to get through.

Whatever issues
you have in your life,

whatever you hold inside you
that's not good,

it will be drawn out
by this exam.

It just happens by
attrition.

If you don't face
those things,

you're gonna have
a very, very difficult time

passing this exam.

If Ian faces those demons,
he will be successful.

Really, if anything,

what I've learned
is that you finish that up,

and then,
it's even harder.

The pressure's even more so,
because you have to stay on top.

You're a master sommelier
at this point.

You have to be a master
sommelier at all times.

You have to stay
on top of your knowledge,

and to stay
on top of tasting.

You have to stay on top of
continuing to learn,

because there's,
all of a sudden,

lots of people
that are looking up to you

and looking
at you in a different light.

Do you know how many
brilliant people there are

who have taken the exam
and are still not m.S.'S?

Five, six, seven times.

Brilliant,
but they're not m.S.'S.

No. I-I don't give up.

I can't.

- Hey, baby.
- Hi.

I have to burn all my flash
cards, 'cause I passed!

Yeah, I did.

Yeah, I did it.

Oh, my god, so... okay!

Oh, my god. Okay. Bye.
Bye.

Oh, wow! He did it!

Oh, my god. Thank god.

Wow. Wow, this is crazy.

I'm shaking right now.

I'm literally
shaking right now.

This is so unreal.

I can't tell you
how happy I am right now.

I'm just... really,
really shaking right now.