The first important quality which a person shall have is extreme passion about wines. This passion will take him to places where he can learn about the wines and vineyards, the style, structure, aroma and flavours of wines and also take into consideration terrior influences which impart distinctive characteristics to the wines. Even if the person is not formally educated in this profession, his passion to learn, know and taste wines would make him explore all thing wines and all things related to wines. So, person would naturally be interested in knowing which food a wine would go well with.
A good sommelier shall be able to distinguish the flavours and smells and relate these to some similar object for the purpose of making the others understand how a particular wine would taste or smell. His senses shall be well developed to an extent that would make this possible. At the same time, there is a need for him to gain exposure to these smells and tastes over a period of time. This is something which is assimilated only after considerable experience and repeated exposure to these smells.
Enhancing the knowledge about various wine regions and how wines from these are different from each other is another important quality which the sommelier shall have. This is not always easy to visit each and every wine producing region for this purpose, but the person shall be sufficiently read in order to understand the terroir influences and other details of wine regions.
Since it is a part of the duty of sommelier to attend to the guests, it is natural to expect him to be good at marketing. He shall not only be a good presenter but shall also be a good judge of customer wine preferences. He shall know how to serve and to pour wines. He shall also know all aspects of good wines etiquette and practice it in reality.
