Karim Rabatel: ‘ambassador’ in Béziers

A sommelier's Secret Garden Béziers

Karim Rabatel,"ambassador in Béziers
After a prosperous period that saw many families from Béziers gain riches thanks to the profits of wine trade, the city of Paul Riquet, creator of the Midi Canal, had a tendency to rest on the laurels of its past.The wine crisis that has been gnawing away at the Languedoc area for decades has not helped the situation, especially for local gastronomy.

However, a few indications show that optimism should be not be relinquished: a leading wine shop owner and manager, Philippe Catusse, who supplies many top chefs, has opened a marvellous wine bar (‘Le Chameau Ivre’), a trendy restaurant that attracts people who are inquisitive about modern cuisine (‘L’Octopus’), whereas a longer-established restaurant, located opposite the railway station; continues to astonish lovers of fine food. It is ‘L’Ambassade’, with Patrick Orly in the kitchens, a chef who is always so inventive and rightly deserves a Michelin star. He knows how to cook to perfection squid and artichokes, beef fillet and truffle sauce with Banyuls, lamb’s sweetbread and chanterelle mushrooms. These are just some of the dishes he concocts. He loves the crispness of parmesan pancake and the combinations offered by the rich diversity of this region’s wines. To bring his wine cellar up to scratch, Patrick Orly has found himself a young sommelier; he is still rather shy, but extremely interested in wine. He is one of those down-to-earth sorts who prefers to stay in his home region, in the place where he went to school. 29-year-old Karim Rabatel has good memories of the period that led him to passing his sommelier diploma at the Hotel and Tourism School in Béziers. “But above all of Daniel Cruz, my restaurant tutor at the CFA in Montpellier; he instilled in me the greatest motivation for learning about wines”, tells us this fine, slender man who admits that he feels completely at ease in a restaurant. “When one works in a restaurant, the first contact with a customer is through wine. This reveals something genial and it’s an approach that pleases me.”

“I was frustrated never being able to express the artistic aspect of my character. This sensitivity has helped me understand wine. What’s more, I am convinced that the job I do is a magnificent, genuine profession.”His career therefore began in the capital of the Languedoc. After a short period as a waiter at the Métropole Hotel, and then in ‘Le César’ restaurant in the Antigone district, that he likes for its family ambience “with its true values”, Karim worked for six years at the Regional Wine House in rue Saint-Guilhem in Montpellier, an “a prestigious wine boutique located in an impressive town house with a stock of 1 500 different wines, a staggering collection of champagnes, whiskies and ports …” Then he came to ‘L’Ambassade’. But why? “Quite simply because this restaurant has a chef who sets great store by wine and participates in the selections for the cellar, but also for the atmosphere, the determination one can feel to do as best as possible with a cellar, which, it must be said, is already extremely well stocked.” Patrick Orly agrees: “Even if the chef is involved and should be, the sommelier is in charge of the cellar. He has just one obligation and that’s to convince me.” It is true that the wine list at ‘L’Ambassade’ has always given Bordeaux and Burgundy (Gevrey from Denis Mortet included!) and even Alsace the place they deserve. An extensive, classic selection, aimed to honour the “Découverte” or “Balade” menus (39 Euros and 57 Euros). Besides the presence on the wine list of undisputed stars of the Languedoc wine region (Mas Jullie, La Négly, Prieuré de Saint-Jean-de-Bébian, Rimbert, Barral…), an enlightened wine enthusiast was entitled to ask for more local revelations, since the region is bubbling with creativity. This is now the case, for example, with the delicious Côtes de Thongue 2005 that Karim suggests to those who don’t want to break the bank for lunch. It is rumoured that since the restaurant is close to the railway station some people come especially from Narbonne and elsewhere just to discover the cellar combined with the splendid cuisine, which is always as sun-kissed as ever.

Through force of circumstance, Karim Rabastel likes to travel to America in his free-time. This is because Molly, his girlfriend, who he met in Montpellier while she was working as an au pair, is devoting her energies to long years of study in medicine in Richmond, Virginia. He goes to see her three times a year, which proves how smitten he is! When he is not tasting with local winegrowers, often accompanied by the chef (“I’m his chauffeur”, Patrick Orly tells us with a grin), Karim is quiet and sensible. He doesn’t go out to night clubs and even less to bodegas during feria time. Quiet, he prefers to devote his time to literature and poetry, whilst listening to classical music. He is a man of tremendous sensitivity. “I was frustrated never being able to express the artistic aspect of my character. This sensitivity has helped me understand wine. What’s more, I am convinced that the job I do is a magnificent, genuine profession.” But could wine be considered as an art? “When you taste the wines made by Huet in Vouvray or those made by François Chidaine, in Montlouis-sur-Loire, there is no doubt about it”, replies the sommelier solemnly.

Michel Smith