Xavier Thuizat is the 32nd Best Sommelier of France

The members of the Union de la Sommellerie Française technical committee are obviously the only ones who know the results of the competition, and they are the only ones who can say if the visual impression was in accordance with the final result. However, as far as the public is concerned, it was obvious that Xavier Thuizat had the upper hand in the final of the 32nd Best Sommelier of France Competition.

The random draw allowed him to be the first of the three candidates to face all the stages of this final held during the EquipHotel show in Paris. And it is with a permanent smile and eyes sparkling with joy to be in front of the public and the jurors that he went through the two blind tasting sessions, the two service workshops, the food and wine pairing workshop, or the identification of partially "disfigured" labels with the same ease.
 

Xavier Thuizat, head sommelier of the starred restaurant L'Écrin at the Hôtel de Crillon in Paris, took part in this competition for the first time. He was well served! His opponents (and friends) Pierre Vila Palleja and Mikael Grou, who are much more experienced in the exercise, since the first was a finalist for the fourth time and the second for the second time, sometimes experienced difficulties that proved fatal.

With a certain carefree attitude that perhaps masked a lot of stress, the winner also won over the several dozen sommelier students present in the room. And this is undoubtedly what also pleased Xavier Thuizat who is now waiting, like Pierre Vila Palleja, for the results of the one of the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France competition.

He hopes to achieve the same masterpiece as Pascaline Lepeltier, four years ago.

Texte and photo Jérémy Martin