Court of Master Sommeliers

Funny, News April 1, 2012

Court of Master Sommeliers Introduces “Hyper-Decanting” to Course Syllabus.

WARNING: THIS ARTICLE WAS PRODUCED AS PART OF APRIL FOOLS DAY JOKE. ALL CHARACTERS ARE FICTIONAL. I DO NOT REPRESENT THE COURT OF MASTER SOMMELIERS AND NEVER HAVE. It’s about time hyper-decanting was given the recognition the recognition it deserves!For those of you that aren’t in the loop, hyper-decanting is quite simply the process of pouring a whole bottle of wine (red or white) into a food processor, turning it to the appropriate setting for…

Facts March 4, 2012

How to Open Champagne Like a Sommelier.

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News February 13, 2012

One Sommelier’s Fairy-Tale Success

When it comes to qualifications, one man has sniffed and slurped his way through more wine examinations than perhaps any other. That man is Gérard Basset, 54 years old, boasts not just a Master of Wine qualification, but also a Master Sommelier, and a Wine M.B.A. from the Bordeaux École de Management, for which he wrote a thesis on the psychology of the wine list. If that wasn’t enough, in 2010 he was named world…

News January 28, 2012

“Somm” Chronicles the Preparation for the Nightmarish Master Sommelier Exam.

Access to the Court Of Master Sommeliers has always been strictly regulated and cameras have never been allowed anywhere near the exam…. until now! “Somm” is the story of four Sommeliers attempting to pass the prestigious and extremely rigorous Master Sommelier Exam, a test with one of the lowest pass rates in the world. Getting the title of "Master Sommelier" is not something that can happen overnight. In order to qualify, one must take an…

Funny January 26, 2012

Just for Sommeliers.

You might think this is exaggerated, but I promise you it isn’t! :)

News January 5, 2012

What They Don’t Teach You in Sommelier School.

Lately I’ve started realizing that my wine knowledge has been slipping. How could that possibly happen? Well, I did just turn 31, so maybe dementia could be setting in early; but personally I think the truth is that I just don’t seem to use what I had drilled into me from the Court of Master Sommeliers and the Society of Wine Educators. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly not knocking these fine institutions…well maybe…

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www.blogyourwine.com

November 25, 2024

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We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.

To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.

This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.

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Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:

Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.

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Disability profiles supported in our website

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Visually Impaired Mode: this mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.

Cognitive Disability Mode: this mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.

ADHD Friendly Mode: this mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.

Blindness Mode: this mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.

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We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and for MAC users.

Notes, comments, and feedback

Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to