Interview: Clément Sommier, Best Sommelier of France

You won the title of Best Sommelier of France on June 29th. After several attempts, what allowed you to win this time?

I think I was more mature this time. In previous editions, I lacked experience. It was still exhausting: the organizers chose a short format, the semi-finals and finals were held back-to-back over two days, and there was a lot of tension. It took me three or four days to recover!

How did your father Fabrice Sommier, Meilleur Ouvrier de France Sommellerie 2007 and president of the Union de la Sommellerie Française, react?

He was very proud, of course. He was the one who presented me with the award. I should mention that he always gave me complete freedom in my career path. He didn't steer me toward wine; he never intended to create a sommelier "dynasty." He ignited the spark of curiosity and didn't fill the well himself. It's probably thanks to this lack of pressure that I developed a genuine interest in wine. I'm grateful to him for that.

How did you train?

I started learning intensively during the Covid pandemic. I was supposed to leave for a position in South Africa and the situation Health restrictions kept me stuck here. My father suggested I try sommelier competitions to learn. So I did. I studied intensively, using flashcards, for a year. And I also tasted wines at about fifty different estates, particularly in Burgundy. And since then, I haven't stopped learning…

Were there any areas of interest that were truly revelatory at that time?

The Cécile Tremblay, Lafarge and La Pousse d'Or estates particularly impressed me at the time.

"Everything moves fast in the wine industry. It's essential to stay on top of generational and philosophical changes."

You reached the semi-finals of the youth competition in 2021 and 2023, then the final of the competition in 2024. Where does this appetite for competition come from?

Generally speaking, I need goals to move forward. But beyond that, it seems essential to me to promote our profession, which can suffer from a poor image. Waitstaff positions are sometimes considered a dead-end job, when in fact they demand phenomenal work and can represent 50% of a restaurant's profitability. I would like sommeliers to have the same visibility as chefs.