Contact

Reaching the right resource matters — especially when the question is specific, the stakes are professional, or the answer requires more than a keyword search can deliver. This page covers how to direct inquiries to Sommelier Authority, what information makes a message actionable, and what a realistic response timeline looks like.

How to reach this office

Sommelier Authority operates as a reference and editorial organization, not a trade school or certification body. Inquiries about editorial accuracy, content corrections, partnership proposals, and research questions are all within scope. The primary contact channel is email, which allows for the kind of specific, document-level responses that wine and hospitality questions often require.

For content-specific questions — say, a discrepancy in the Advanced Sommelier Exam pass-rate data or a detail in the Wine Service Standards reference — the editorial team reviews these directly. Flagging a specific page title and section heading in the subject line routes the message faster than a general inquiry.

Spam filters are aggressive. A subject line that reads "Question about sommelier certification" will clear them. A subject line that reads "Hi" will not.

Service area covered

Sommelier Authority is a national US reference property. The content scope covers certification pathways, regional wine knowledge relevant to the American hospitality market, career development, and professional technique — from Blind Tasting Technique to Beverage Program Profitability.

One member resource in the network is worth knowing explicitly: California Wine Authority covers the state-level detail that a national site cannot reasonably sustain — appellation boundaries, producer profiles, vintage variation across California's 139 American Viticultural Areas (AVAs), and the regulatory framework governing California wine labeling. For any inquiry that bottoms out in California-specific wine geography or production, that's the more precise destination.

Geographic scope for direct inquiries is US-based, but content questions from international readers — particularly those studying for Court of Master Sommeliers examinations, which operate across multiple countries — are handled without restriction.

What to include in your message

A well-formed message takes about 90 seconds to write and saves 3 to 5 days of back-and-forth. The difference is specificity.

1. The page or topic in question. A direct URL or the page title from the Sommelier Glossary or any reference section is enough.
2. The nature of the inquiry. Correction requests, research questions, licensing questions, and partnership proposals each route to different reviewers. Naming the category upfront removes one exchange from the thread.
3. A named source, if relevant. If the inquiry concerns a factual dispute — for example, a conflict between content here and a Court of Master Sommeliers published standard, or a Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) syllabus update — naming that source allows the editorial reviewer to pull the document directly rather than searching for what prompted the question.
4. Contact information beyond email. For time-sensitive editorial matters, a phone number or secondary email provides a backup if the original message is filtered.

What not to include: lengthy background context that precedes the actual question. The question itself, stated plainly in the first two sentences, is the most useful thing in any message.

Response expectations

Editorial inquiries receive acknowledgment within 2 business days. Substantive responses — those requiring document review, content revision, or coordination with contributing researchers — typically resolve within 7 business days.

Certification questions directed here rather than to the issuing bodies (Court of Master Sommeliers, WSET, Society of Wine Educators) will be redirected. Sommelier Authority publishes reference content about those programs — including the Introductory Sommelier Exam and Master Sommelier Diploma pathways — but does not administer them, hold examination schedules, or process candidate registrations. Those functions belong to the certifying organizations directly.

Partnership and licensing inquiries follow a longer cycle: initial review within 5 business days, with full assessment completed within 21 business days depending on scope. Proposals that include a clear description of the partner organization, the proposed content or data relationship, and a named editorial contact on the other side move through review considerably faster than open-ended expressions of interest.