Jewel Rholam: bubbles, whites and reds!
Edouard Amoiel
10 juin 2026
“What’s your favorite region?” When Morad El Hajjaji, founder of theInda-Barasked him this question, Jewel Rholam was still just a passing candidate. He had just arrived in Geneva, went to the Inda-Bar to drop off his CV and ended up chatting with the owner over a coffee. A few minutes later, a question comes up: “Name three great Côtes-Rôties.” Jewel answers right away with the winning trio that will change everything: La Landonne, La Mouline and La Turque. Morad tells her: “We’ll attack tomorrow.
Couscous and stuffing
Four years later, Jewel Rholam leads the dining room and manages the world of wine at one of Geneva’s most original and trendy addresses. Her ascent has been rapid, the fruit of a journey guided by great curiosity and boundless passion.
Nothing predestined this Cannes native to become a sommelier. With a passion for car mechanics, a vocational baccalaureate and a BTS in this field, he dreamed more of Formula 1 paddocks than bunches of grapes. However, since childhood, another passion had been growing silently: that of the table.
On the one hand, there were her grandmother’s Moroccan meals, the couscous that lasted all day and the big family tables where we shared as many stories as dishes. On the other, there was Provence, with its farcis niçois, anchoïades and Mediterranean culture, where entertaining is almost an art of living.
Sharing wine
The wine came later. First as a logical extension of the service, then very quickly as a revelation. Jewel Rholam started out as a chef de rang at the Carlton in Cannes, where he met Franck Thomas, France’s Best Sommelier. The end of service became an impromptu lesson. An hour in the cellar, then two. A piece of cheese, a few bottles of wine and discussions that seem to last a few minutes, even though the night is already well advanced.
This budding passion then led him to La Chèvre d’Or, in Èze. The address was not entirely unfamiliar: an uncle had worked there in the kitchen and had often spoken to him about it. Jewel Rholam spent a year as assistant sommelier at one of the Côte d’Azur’s most emblematic establishments. An important step in his career, at the heart of an establishment that continues to set the standard in the South of France.
His apprenticeship was entirely empirical. No hotel school, no dedicated academic path, just a strong desire to understand. The rest he built all by himself: tastings, books, reports watched until the wee hours of the morning, and a conviction that has never left him: wine is only of value if it is shared.
The meetings…
This is undoubtedly what explains his philosophy today. At the Inda-Bar, he can open a great Burgundy wine or introduce the first vintage of a young, as yet unknown winemaker. The emotion remains the same. “My challenge is not just to serve a great bottle. It’s about discovering the next nugget before anyone else.”
In his own words, this phrase sounds more like a mission than an ambition. Because behind the mythical allocations, the rare labels and the references that make wine lovers dream, what really motivates Jewel Rholam remains very simple: to create an encounter. Between a wine and a person. Between a story and a palate. Between a bottle and the emotion it can arouse.
