About Alper Billik — Advanced Sommelier and Founder of SOMM DIGI AI

I'm Alper. 15 years as a sommelier, Certified in 2014 and Advanced in 2019 with the Court of Master Sommeliers. Today I'm the founder of SOMM DIGI and build the Learning Portal for the Court of Master Sommeliers Europe.

Written by Alper Billik — Advanced Sommelier (Court of Master Sommeliers, 2019).

Who is Alper Billik?

Alper Billik is an Advanced Sommelier (Court of Master Sommeliers, Hong Kong, 2019) and the founder of SOMM DIGI AI. He holds a Foodservice Management Certificate from Cornell University, WSET Level 3, French Wine Scholar, Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW), and Hospitality Leadership from Michigan State University. 15 years of sommelier work across Türkiye, Arkansas, Dubai (Burj Al Arab), cruise ships, Disney Cruise Line as Head Sommelier, and the Maldives as Chef Sommelier at Cheval Blanc Randheli (LVMH).

What is SOMM DIGI AI?

Is SOMM DIGI AI free to use?

Yes. The free tier (CRU Guest) is free forever — no credit card required. It includes First Pour, and the AI sommelier chat and PairMe wine pairing with 1,000 tokens for your first 7 days. First Pour is a free practice quiz across five intro wine regions. CRU opens the rest: CRU Quiz unlocks the full member quiz with 3,000+ exam-prep questions, the question of the day, every flashcard deck, blind tasting and the wine list quiz; CRU Reserve adds 25,000 AI chat tokens a month and custom AI agents.

Can SOMM DIGI help me prepare for the Court of Master Sommeliers exams?

Yes — that is the platform's primary use case. Alper built it from his own preparation notes for the CMS Introductory, Certified, and Advanced Sommelier exams. First Pour, the free quiz, covers the intro regions. CRU Membership adds 3,000+ exam-prep questions across every exam topic, blind tasting deduction drills, wine list building practice, and an AI sommelier you can ask anything 24/7. WSET Level 2 and Level 3 students use it too.

How is SOMM DIGI different from ChatGPT or a generic AI?

SOMM DIGI is built from a working sommelier's notebooks, not scraped from the internet. The AI knows that Vouvray has a 5% Arbois exception, that Champagne disgorgement timing changes autolytic character, and that Aegean island whites taste different in person than they read in textbooks. It also has structured tools — practice quizzes, flashcards, blind tasting drills, wine list builders — that a generic chatbot does not offer.

Do you work with restaurants, hotels, or wine schools?

Yes. SOMM DIGI Enterprise offers custom AI agents trained on your wine list, staff training quizzes, onboarding flows, and private deployments for restaurants, hotels, importers, beverage programs, and wine schools. Visit ai.sommdigi.wine/enterprise or fill out the contact form on the About page to start a conversation.

How do I contact Alper directly?

Use the contact form at the bottom of the About page — it goes straight to Alper's inbox, no team, no auto-responder. You can also email info@sommdigi.com or connect on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/alperbillik.

About Alper Billik — Advanced Sommelier and Founder of SOMM DIGI AI

I'm Alper. 15 years as a sommelier, Certified in 2014 and Advanced in 2019 with the Court of Master Sommeliers. Today I'm the founder of SOMM DIGI and build the Learning Portal for the Court of Master Sommeliers Europe. SOMM DIGI AI is my own exam experience, with the best AI tools on top.

Advanced Sommelier · CMS

Cornell · Foodservice Mgmt

Certified Sommelier · CMS

Michigan State · Hospitality

Graduated from hospitality university in Türkiye at 23. Moved to Little Rock, Arkansas on an internship visa. Double shifts at the city's largest wine shop in the morning, steakhouse service at night. The real classroom started here.

Intro Sommelier at the Culinary Institute of America.

Flew to Napa for the Court of Master Sommeliers Introductory exam at the CIA. Tasted everything I could get my hands on. Earned my first sommelier pin. Still one of the best days I can remember.

Junior Sommelier at Burj Al Arab.

Joined one of the most iconic hotels in the world. The real climb began here — silver service, wine cellars built for royalty, guests from every culture. A massive step up from the Arkansas wine shop.

Cruise ships between Greece and Türkiye.

Spent the summer sailing between Greek islands and the Turkish coast. The perfect season to truly discover Greek wines — Assyrtiko from Santorini, Xinomavro from Naoussa, indigenous grapes I'd never poured before.

Sat the Certified Sommelier exam with the Court of Master Sommeliers in Hong Kong. One of the best feelings — officially certified and ready for the next step.

Queen Victoria · World Voyage

Eight months around the world.

Joined the British cruise line Queen Victoria for a world voyage. Waking up in a different city almost every day. Working as a sommelier and tasting wines from every continent — an unforgettable year.

Joined Disney Cruise Line as Head Sommelier. Wine tastings, great American families, sailing through Europe. A chapter full of good energy — and the title 'Head Sommelier' for the first time.

Head Sommelier + Cornell University.

Worked across the Middle East in different Head Sommelier roles — building wine lists, training teams, running cellars. In parallel, completed my Foodservice Management Certificate online with Cornell University. Long nights between service and study.

Passed Advanced Sommelier. The biggest milestone.

Sat the Advanced Sommelier exam with the Court of Master Sommeliers in Hong Kong. Second attempt — worth every minute. Joining a small, global community of Advanced Sommeliers is still the proudest moment of my career.

Chef Sommelier at Cheval Blanc Randheli, LVMH.

My last role in official employment — Chef Sommelier at Cheval Blanc Randheli, LVMH Hotels. Then the pandemic hit, and I had to return to my home country, Türkiye. End of one chapter, start of another.

The first sketches of SOMM DIGI.

Back home with no employer, no plan B, just a notebook full of study notes from 9 years on the floor. I started learning digital marketing, then early AI — long before ChatGPT existed. The first sketches of SOMM DIGI began in that quiet room.

Hanoi, Vietnam · Wine Nomad

Full-time on SOMM DIGI AI.

I'm now full-time on SOMM DIGI — building from cafés in Vietnam, still grinding. I traveled the world to learn wine. Now I'm traveling again to build its future. Bringing wine and AI together for the next generation of sommeliers.

Advanced Sommelier Certificate from the Court of Master Sommeliers, awarded to Alper Billik on 5 August 2019 in Hong Kong.

Foodservice Management Certificate from Cornell University via eCornell, awarded to Alper Billik on 3 November 2017.

Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW)

Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) certificate from the Society of Wine Educators, awarded to Alper Billik on 12 September 2012.

French Wine Scholar certificate from the French Wine Society, awarded to Alper Billik on 4 September 2014.

Supervision, Management & Leadership

Michigan State University · School of Hospitality Business

Hospitality Leadership certificate from Michigan State University, School of Hospitality Business, awarded to Alper Billik on 22 May 2014.

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Alper Billik at a table of six wines, three red and three white, during a blind tasting

Alper's Advanced Sommelier pin resting against his waiter's friend corkscrew

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A hand-drawn map of Gevrey-Chambertin's Grand Cru vineyards in a study notebook, with coloured pencils

A hand-drawn map of Catalonia's wine regions with study notes on Priorat and Penedès

Alper at an exam table with a red and a white wine, in a room of candidates

Alper decanting wine, his Advanced Sommelier pin, and holding his Advanced Sommelier certificate between two examiners

What people ask before signing up.

m the founder of SOMM DIGI, and I build the Learning Portal for the Court of Master Sommeliers Europe. SOMM DIGI AI is my own exam experience, with the best AI tools on top. It

t have a tutor on call. I had textbooks I

t afford a private tutor, to the student in Türkiye, India, or Argentina who doesn

s not a generic chatbot dressed up with grape emojis. It

Thank you for reaching out — I read every note personally. You'll hear back from me soon.

Goes straight to me — no team, no auto-responder.

I sat these exams. Now I build what I wish I'd had.

Hi, I'm Alper. For 15 years I worked as a sommelier, from the

. Along the way I studied for the Court of Master Sommeliers: Certified in 2014, Advanced in 2019.

Today I'm the founder of SOMM DIGI, and I build the Learning Portal for the Court of Master Sommeliers Europe. SOMM DIGI AI is my own exam experience, with the best AI tools on top. It's not an official course. I built it to get you ready.

A sommelier's notes. The best of AI. Your exam.

Hand-drawn maps, late nights, and a lot of questions.

There was no shortcut. SOMM DIGI AI turns that work into practice for you: questions at your level, the topics you missed brought back, and every answer explained.

The two credentials that shaped SOMM DIGI.

Sommelier certification from the Court of Master Sommeliers. Hospitality management from Cornell. Together, they're the spine of how I think about wine and how I built this app.

Court of Master Sommeliers · Hong Kong · 2019

Cornell University · eCornell · 2017

From a wine shop in Arkansas to Cheval Blanc Randheli.

15 years. 4 continents. Every chapter is real — every wine, every shift, every exam.

Every certificate. Every issuer. Every date.

Real credentials from real institutions. Earned over 12 years of formal study while working full-time on the floor.

Culinary Institute of America · 2012

Wine & Spirit Education Trust

In-depth study of the world's principal grape varieties, regions, and wine styles. The professional standard alongside the CMS path.

SOMM DIGI wasn't built to disrupt. It was built to evolve.

When I was preparing for my Advanced Sommelier exam in Hong Kong, I didn't have a tutor on call. I had textbooks I'd carried across four countries, flashcards I made on cruise-ship breaks, and pages of handwritten notes from every shift — every wine I poured, every question a guest asked me, every region I had to re-read at 2 a.m. because something didn't click. Every sommelier I know has the same story.

When the pandemic ended my career on the floor, I went home to Türkiye with one suitcase and that pile of notes. I didn't want them to gather dust. I wanted them to be useful — to the next person sitting up at 2 a.m. trying to memorize Burgundy Premier Crus, to the cruise-ship sommelier who can't afford a private tutor, to the student in Türkiye, India, or Argentina who doesn't have access to a CMS school nearby.

"Before the tools, there was service. Before the AI, there was real hospitality."

Every tool, every image, every line of code comes from the floor. Built by someone who's lived it — not just studied it.

A study companion built from one sommelier's notebooks — open to everyone.

SOMM DIGI AI is a wine-trained AI platform for sommeliers studying for certification, for wine educators, for hospitality teams, and for anyone serious about learning wine. The questions, the explanations, the flashcards, the blind tasting practice — they all come from the same 15 years of notes I built sitting through every CMS exam and every WSET module myself.

It's not a Wikipedia mirror. It's not a generic chatbot dressed up with grape emojis. It's a study partner with the bias of someone who has actually poured the wines — who knows that Vouvray has a 5% Arbois exception, that Champagne disgorgement timing changes the autolytic character, that Aegean island whites taste different in person than they read in the textbook.

Practice quizzes for Intro, Certified, and Advanced exams. Blind tasting drills. Wine list building practice. Flashcards organized by region.

Ask any wine question and get a sommelier-level answer. Learn at your own pace, from anywhere, without booking a class.

For Restaurants & Hotels

Train your floor team on your own wine list. Build custom quizzes. Keep service staff sharp between tastings.

Generate study materials in seconds. Save your knowledge as reusable AI agents. Spend less time prepping, more time teaching.

. No credit card. No locked-down trial.

Restaurants, hotels, wine programs — let's build something together.

I work with hospitality groups, wine schools, and brands who want to put SOMM DIGI to work for their teams — custom training agents, wine list quizzes, staff onboarding, private AI for your cellar.

SOMM DIGI for Hospitality & Wine Brands

Custom AI agents trained on your wine list. Staff training quizzes. Onboarding flows. Private deployments. Built for restaurants, hotels, importers, wine schools, and beverage programs.

Trained in Napa · NYC · Hong Kong · Maldives · Dubai · Türkiye

First Pour — Intro · Warm-Up · Certified · Warm-Up · Advanced · Study guides