Sommelier Resume Examples & Writing Guide

This sample is a working floor sommelier who also runs the cellar and buys part of the list. The restaurant names are invented. Notice that the list size, the cellar value and the wine revenue are all in the first four lines.

A sommelier is both a salesperson and an inventory manager. The person hiring you is checking whether you can do both, and whether you fit the room.

• The list you have run. Number of selections, cellar bottle count and value, the regions it leans on, and whether you bought any of it. A 600-selection cellar list and a 40-wine bistro list are different jobs.
• Money you moved. Wine revenue per cover, attachment rate, by-the-glass sales, private event spend. Sommelier work is measurable and most resumes leave the numbers off.
• Inventory discipline. Pour cost against target, variance, dead stock, open-bottle waste. This is the difference between a wine enthusiast and someone who can be trusted with a half-million-dollar cellar.
• Certification level and where you are going. Introductory, Certified, Advanced, or WSET Level 2 to 4. Say the body and the year, and whether you are sitting the next level.

“Two numbers matter to me: wine spend per cover and pour cost. Everything else is taste, and taste I can assess in a tasting. If a resume shows someone grew wine per cover from twenty-seven to thirty-four dollars and kept pour cost under target, that person is going to make the room money.”

Three or four lines: list size, cellar, revenue, and your certification. Adapt whichever is closest to your room.

The duties are widely understood, so a plain list of them adds nothing. Attach the size, the money and the change.

Split the commercial skills from the tasting and service skills, because the beverage director cares about both but reads for the commercial ones first.

• Commercial: list design and pricing, margin and pour cost management, inventory counts and variance, dead stock and repricing, purchasing and allocations, budget forecasting for events.
• Floor: reading a table quickly, upselling without pressure, pairing across a set menu, decanting, Coravin and preservation, glassware and temperature service, handling a corked or faulty bottle.
• Tasting: deductive tasting method, blind tasting, regional and vintage knowledge in the areas your list covers, spirits and sake if the program includes them.
• Team: staff training and blind tasting sessions, written cheat sheets for list changes, working with the chef on menu changes, coaching new servers on the two-minute wine conversation.
• Systems and compliance: beverage inventory software, POS reporting, receiving and bin management, state alcohol server certification, food handler card.
• Extras that get read: a second language, event hosting, media or writing experience, and any producer visits or harvest work you have done.

"Sommelier" is not a protected title in the US, so certification is how employers calibrate you. Name the awarding body and the year, always.

• Court of Master Sommeliers Americas: Introductory Sommelier Certificate, Certified Sommelier, Advanced Sommelier, then Master Sommelier. Certified is the practical benchmark for a floor sommelier job in most cities.
• WSET: Level 1 through Level 4 Diploma. WSET is academic and internationally recognized, and Level 3 is a common companion to a Court certification. Level 4 Diploma is a serious multi-year commitment.
• Society of Wine Educators: Certified Specialist of Wine and Certified Wine Educator. Common in retail, wholesale and teaching paths.
• State alcohol server training. Requirements vary by state, and several states require certification within a set period after hire. Check your state's rules and put the current certificate on the page.
• Food handler card if your state or county requires it for service staff.
• If you are studying for the next level, write it plainly: "Advanced Sommelier candidate, exam scheduled 2027". That is credible and useful; claiming the level is not.

Most sommeliers come off the floor of the same restaurant or from wine retail. The resume needs to prove you can sell wine and count it, not just talk about it.

1. 1Take the Introductory exam or WSET Level 2 before you apply. It is the cheapest credibility available and it filters out most casual applicants.
2. 2Quantify your wine selling as a server: personal wine sales per shift, attachment rate, bottles sold on a busy night. Managers can pull these numbers, so ask for them.
3. 3Volunteer for the unglamorous half: receiving, bin counts, inventory, the by-the-glass rotation. Then write it on the resume, because that is the part employers worry about.
4. 4Lead a staff tasting or write the cheat sheet for a list change and put it on the page. It shows you can teach, which is half of a sommelier's job.
5. 5Go to distributor tastings and note how many you attend a year. Building supplier relationships early is real experience.
6. 6Apply to rooms one step below your dream restaurant. Wine programs promote from within, and a back waiter position in a serious cellar beats a sommelier title in a room with 40 wines.

One page for a floor sommelier, two for a wine director with multiple venues. This is a small industry and your resume is often read by someone who knows your last restaurant.

• Describe each restaurant in a parenthesis: seat count, style, list size. Those three facts place you instantly for anyone in the business.
• Put certifications in their own section with the body and year, and repeat your highest one in the contact line.
• Mirror the posting's title: sommelier, wine director, beverage director, wine captain, head sommelier.
• No photo, no date of birth on a US resume. Single column, plain headings, PDF.
• Add a short line about the regions you know best and any harvest or producer visits. In this trade that is credibility, not decoration.