I thought sommeliers had formal training. And there were different levels for different certifications. They learn about growing, dirt, cultivation, weather, etc. as influences in the taste, plus have experience in tasting and distinguishing. 

I don't drink anymore but would trust a sommelier to make recommendations from their cellar for the table. 

I think in audio, there really are no qualifications are there? Someone can have engineering experience, which is good, but that doesn't necessarily translate to knowing what gear sounds like or even what to listen for. Many of my guests over the years have been working musicians. They usually comment that they have never heard anything comparable to the kind of playback a high end system can deliver-probably because they simply haven't been exposed to much of the stuff we take for granted. I enjoy their reactions-- not to the "audiophile spectacular" stuff, but to records they know--like, wow, I never heard the kick drum that clearly- or those horn parts are amazing. 

I'll never be an audio sommelier. But, that isn't terribly important to me at this stage of my life. As to the fruit of the vine, enjoy. We used to spend a lot of time in Beaune, France. And you realize why that juice is so expensive. The plots of land on which the grapes are grown are small, there's not a huge output each year. We had a favorite restaurant just outside of town that we used to frequent. It was a hang for the vineyard people. They had a pretty crazy cellar. Been years....

Red Foxx used to mix Champaign and Ripple.  He called it Champipple. I bet that didn’t make him a wine expert or a lover of hifi.

@whart There are certifications for Sommeliers, through the Court of Master Sommeliers or CMS, Intro, Certified, Advanced, Master. Plenty of somms are not certified in any way. I've done through Certified and took the Advanced exam, just passing tasting, though I've never been a somm.

@curiousjim ’I’m coining Loretta.”

@waytoomuchstuff You wax poetic. So thanks.

I’ve posted this quote before but it seems appropriate. ‘There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ’my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’ Issac Asimov

The internet has let so many pontificate and prattle as if they were experts. Not using our real names and faces doesn’t help. Most here are kind and want to help. And then there are the righteous bomb throwers (And if someone cuts up and does it well that’s laudable too). But all and all this joint rocks.

Making sausage isn’t pretty and the internet is sausage.