The discerning drinker: I've taken the sommelier's toughest test

Your starter for 12: name the six appellations of the Peloponnese, in Greece.

Give up? OK, then identify this red wine - main grape, country, region, vintage, and has it got any oak in it? No, you can't see the label. Or how about filling eight champagne glasses from one bottle, equally, without going back to any glass after you've moved on from it?

These were some of the tasks for contestants in this week's London heats of the UK Sommelier of the Year Competition 2011. I watched Kathrine Larsen, of Le Pont de la Tour, carry off top marks to earn a place in the finals. She and her fellow sommeliers gave me a new respect for their profession.

I didn't even attempt the champagne pouring, or the decanting and serving exercise (although for the latter I did pose, with Christian Holthausen of sponsors, Champagne Piper-Heidsieck, as a thirsty diner.) But I did the written exam and the blind tasting: they demand serious knowledge.

I scored 19 out of 100 on the exam (I managed three of those Greek wines) - a score I was aghast at until told it was the day's average.

Which figures: it was devised by reigning world champion sommelier Gérard Basset, of Hampshire's Hotel Terravina. I did much better on the blind tasting but it was still terrifying.

So next time you're in a decent restaurant, spare a thought for the man or woman uncorking your bottle. To put up with long hours, stroppy customers and M Basset's fiendish exams requires a true love of wine.

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