TWO DAYS
IN HONG KONG

Brian Julyan MS — the founder, the long view

MS since 1972 · founded the Court in 1977 · chief examiner since 1990

1. You passed the Diploma in 1972 and helped found the Court in 1977 — what problem were you trying to solve that the trade wouldn't solve on its own?
2. In the '70s and '80s the craft was the guéridon — decanting, carving, service at the table. How much of that art have we lost, and does it matter?
3. You learned wine first-hand from winemakers, before scores, apps and the internet. What did that give you that a candidate can't get from a screen today?
4. As chief examiner since 1990, what's the one thing that has always separated a pass from a fail — and has it changed?
5. Your book has been revised and reprinted for over two decades. What did you get right early, and what did the changing world force you to rewrite?
6. You've watched the Court grow from a British institution to a global one, now examining in Hong Kong. Did you ever picture this room?
7. You've signed off on generations of Master Sommeliers. Is there a candidate, or a moment, that still makes you proud of what the Court became?
8. The wine industry has changed beyond recognition in your lifetime. What worries you about where it's heading — and what gives you hope?
9. For a young person choosing between a wine career and something "safer," what would you tell them?
10. When the Court began it was a handful of people in Britain. What do you hope it stands for a hundred years from now?
11. Career advice — what's the best career advice you'd give a young Sommelier starting out today?

Ronan Sayburn MS — leading the Court

CEO of the Court · UK Sommelier of the Year 1998

1. You were going to be a chef until Gérard Basset changed your mind at Le Manoir. What did he see in the floor that you hadn't?
2. What's it actually like to be CEO of the Court of Master Sommeliers — running the very institution that once examined you?
3. You now run the Court full-time, because the courses have exploded worldwide. Where is CMS right now — and where is it heading in the next five years?
4. Is there anything on the horizon that candidates should be excited about — new courses, new places, new ways in?
5. CMS is stepping into the digital world now — even bringing AI into how the Court teaches, reaches and supports its candidates. As the person leading it, what does that shift mean for an institution built on human craft? Where does the technology serve CMS, and where must the human stay?
6. When you examine, what are you actually reading in the first thirty seconds a candidate approaches the table?
7. The MS pass rate is famously brutal. Is that difficulty the point — and would you ever soften it?
8. You dive shipwrecks alone in your spare time. What does going that deep teach you that wine doesn't?
9. Beyond the exams, what responsibility does the Court carry for the health of the whole wine industry?
10. If you could put one message in front of every young Sommelier thinking about the Court, what would it be?
11. Career advice — what career advice would you give a young Sommelier just setting out?

Laura Rhys MS & Helga Schroeder MS — inspiring the next woman in wine

Encouragement, and the real path in, for every woman finding her way

1. Laura — you learned alongside Gérard Basset, Claire Thevenot and Yohann Jousselin at Hotel du Vin. What did that room teach you that no course could?
2. Laura — you made a rare move, from the restaurant floor to grading and blending at Gusbourne. Why leave the floor for the cellar?
3. Helga — you passed in Klosterneuburg in 2019, the first woman in the entire German-speaking world to do it. Did being "the first" feel like a weight, a freedom, or both?
4. Helga — you came to wine as a linguist, not from a wine estate. Is tasting its own language — and did words help you taste?
5. To both — a young woman looks at that pin and thinks "not for someone like me." What's your message to her?
6. To both, practically — if a reader wants to start on the Court's ladder tomorrow, where do they actually begin — and what does the path cost in years, money and effort?
7. To both — what has the Court given your career that nothing else could have?
8. To both — the industry can be brutal early on: long hours, low pay, little glamour. What kept you in it long enough to reach the top?
9. Laura — you now shape English sparkling wine that beats Champagne in blind tastings. What does that tell a young sommelier about where opportunity really lives now?
10. To both — the one piece of advice you'd give the next woman chasing the pin, that you wish someone had given you.
11. Career advice — what career advice would you give a young woman just starting out in wine?

Eleftherios Hanialidis MS — the first Greek

First Greek MS, 2023 · Best Sommelier of Greece · columnist, Kathimerini

1. Greece has made wine for 4,000 years and got its first Master Sommelier only in 2023 — you. Why did it take so long, and why now?
2. Assyrtiko, Xinomavro, Agiorgitiko — which Greek grape is the world about to fall for, and why isn't it there yet?
3. You write about wine for Kathimerini as well as pour it. What can you say on the page that you can't say at the table?
4. What door does your pin open for the next Greek sommelier — and how do you keep it open?
5. What did earning the CMS Master Sommelier pin do for how Greek wine is taken seriously abroad?
6. How is the Court helping the wine scene grow in Greece — and where does it need to go next?
7. The global industry still overlooks Greek wine. What has to change, and how fast is it changing?
8. What did the Court teach you that you could never have learned anywhere in Greece?
9. To a young Greek sommelier who thinks the Master pin is out of reach — what do you say?
10. When the second Greek Master Sommelier passes, what do you hope they say about the road you cleared?
11. Career advice — what career advice would you give a young Greek Sommelier just starting out?

Kamal Malik MS — the first Indian

First Indian MS, 2024 · farming family, Shamli · interned at Château Beaucastel

1. You grew up in a farming family in Hassanpur, in a country where wine isn't the everyday drink. How do you explain to your family what a Master Sommelier is?
2. Your first taste of wine was in 2002; twenty-two years later you're one of fewer than 300 MS on earth. What carried you through the exam's failures?
3. You interned at Beaucastel in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. What did an Indian sommelier learn in a Rhône cellar that he brought home?
4. India is young to wine and vast in people. What has to happen for the second and third Indian Master Sommeliers to come faster than the first?
5. What did earning the CMS pin change about how Indian hospitality is seen on the world stage?
6. How can the Court help wine grow in a market as young and enormous as India's?
7. The industry is opening to new markets. What does India bring to the world of wine that nowhere else can?
8. To a kid from a village who loves wine but thinks people like him don't become Master Sommeliers — what do you say?
9. What did the Court give you that your years in the finest hotels never could?
10. When India has ten Master Sommeliers, what do you hope your name means to them?
11. Career advice — what career advice would you give a young Sommelier in India just starting out?

Cameron Douglas MS — the only one

NZ's first & only MS · Group Beverage Director, Rodd & Gunn · teaches at AUT

1. You're the only Master Sommelier in an entire country. With no one at your level at home, who do you measure yourself against?
2. The world knows New Zealand for Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. What are we all missing?
3. You run the wine programme at AUT — are you deliberately training the person who becomes New Zealand's second MS?
4. You've been the only one for years. Is that a lonely title, or a free one?
5. What did the CMS pin do for how New Zealand wine is respected beyond Marlborough Sauvignon?
6. As an examiner as well as the only NZ Master, how are you helping the Court grow across Oceania?
7. Where's the biggest opportunity in the wine industry right now that young sommeliers are walking straight past?
8. To a young New Zealander who wants to follow you but sees no path home — what do you tell them?
9. What did the Court give you that twenty years on the floor never could?
10. When New Zealand finally has its second Master Sommelier, what will you say to them?
11. Career advice — what career advice would you give a young New Zealand Sommelier just starting out?

Edouard Oger MS — the way in

Course Co-Ordinator & Exam Admissions, CMS Europe · MS 2011 · ex-Gidleigh Park

1. Someone reads about the Court tonight and wants to start tomorrow. Walk me through it — what do they actually do first?
2. How does registration really work, and what decides who gets a place when a course fills?
3. The waiting lists are long. How do they move, and what's the honest advice to someone sitting on one?
4. What are the exam rules people most often get wrong — the ones that cost candidates a pass before they've poured a drop?
5. What makes you say to a candidate, "you're not ready to sit this yet" — and how do they hear it?
6. You're building the schedule for Europe, Asia and Oceania. Why is the Court opening up so fast in Asia, and what does Hong Kong mean in that plan?
7. What does it take to run an exam like this one — the logistics nobody in the room ever sees?
8. You were Head Sommelier at Gidleigh Park under Michael Caines, on a 1,300-bin list. What did two Michelin stars teach you that you still use in this job?
9. You've said Gérard Basset inspired you as much for how he treated his team as for his wine. What did you take from him?
10. You won the Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle cup for the top marks of your year. What were you doing differently?
11. You went from the floor to running admissions for the whole Court. Is that a step away from wine, or deeper into it?
12. Career advice — to someone about to register for their first CMS course, what's the one thing you'd tell them?

The French in Hong Kong — Yohann, Arnaud & Pierre-Marie

Three French Master Sommeliers who built their careers in Asia · ask each, then together

1. You each left France for Hong Kong. What did this city offer that Paris or London couldn't?
2. Yohann — a small village in the Loire, an uncle with vineyards, and now the fine wine of a whole region passes through your hands. When did Asia stop being a posting and become the career?
3. Yohann — you ran wine for Shangri-La across Hong Kong, Singapore and South-East Asia, on lists of 1,800 labels. What does a regional wine director actually do that a head sommelier doesn't?
4. Arnaud — fifth generation in hospitality, from the Jura to fourteen sommeliers across thirty Black Sheep venues. How do you keep a standard that big honest?
5. Arnaud — you've said a team has to be happy to come to work. Where did you learn that, and what does it cost to protect it?
6. Pierre-Marie — a decade in Michelin-starred France and the UK, then Asia and the producer side. What did the move teach you about how wine really sells?
7. All three of you crossed from the restaurant floor into the trade. Is that a promotion, or a different job entirely — and what do you miss?
8. What does the Hong Kong palate want that would surprise a European sommelier?
9. You each passed the hardest exam in wine a long way from home. What did the Court give you that opened doors in Asia specifically?
10. The Court is examining in Hong Kong this week. What does it mean to you three to have it happen in your city?
11. To a young French sommelier who's never left Europe: is Asia the move, and what should they know before they book the flight?
12. Career advice — one piece of advice each, to a young sommelier building a career outside their own country.