Interactive Map of Testable Wines — Certified Sommelier Blind Tasting Exam 2024

Hover and click on wine regions to explore testable grapes and regions for the Certified Sommelier exam. Desktop Website recommended.

A Map of Testable Wines — Grapes and Styles associated with Wine Regions

Geography and terroir is central to understanding wine typicity in a blind setting. This map is your visual reference to explore all testable wine regions and associated grape varietals for the exam. Detecting typicity of a wine means knowing unique characteristics of a wine that we see, smell, and taste that suggest a certain place of origin. For example, Burgundy is associated with light-bodied red wines (Pinot Noir), whereas Bordeaux is associated with full-bodied red wines (Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot).

Certified Sommelier Exam — A Brief Background

To become a Certified Sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers requires passing a blind tasting exam—you get 2 white wines, 2 red wines, and 30 minutes to deduce the grape varietal (like Chardonnay) and region of origin (like California or Burgundy).

Some more detail on the format of the exam, and the data you see in the map:

• There are 8 white grape varietals and 12 red grape varietals possible.

• White grape varietals can come from 7 different countries comprising 18 different regions.

• Red grape varietals can come from 6 different countries comprising 30 different regions.

The testable grape varietals, wine regions, and styles for the Court of Master Sommeliers (Americas) are referenced from this PDF.

You can find more information about the entire exam from the Court of Master Sommeliers from this PDF.