Sommelier en altitude
There’s nothing you can do about it, taking the train and letting yourself be carried aloft to neighboring lands is an exceptional adventure. After a short hour’s train journey from Geneva to Montreux, a stop was made to change tracks. As luck would have it, we boarded the Belle Époque locomotive, transported to our destination and back in time, projected in a few bends to the era of the Orient Express. As we leave the shores of the city famous for its jazz festival, we climb towards Rougemont, where the GaultMillau Sommelier of the Year awaits us. In the new culinary showcase of the Hotel Valrose where young prodigy Mathieu Quetglas is making wine lovers’ hearts skip a beat. An encounter under the sign of novelty, where food and wine pairings are already all the rage.
Mathieu Quetglas
Home cooking
A child of southern France, he grew up on the shores of the Mediterranean in the town of La Ciotat. His entire childhood was lulled by the sweet aromas of Provençal cuisine: pistou soups, pieds paquets, simmered daubes, artichokes à la barigoule. A traditional, gourmet cuisine that shaped his palate from an early age. “It may be home cooking, but it’s a sincere approach to cooking,” he recalls with some emotion. Far from being a regular at school, the student period was far from fulfilling for this gentle dreamer, who soon wanted to escape the school straightjacket. Beaten down by an intransigent teacher with a cruel lack of pedagogy, the young student leaves school driven by a desire for revenge on life.
The hotel business was an option for him, but not out of spite or obligation. He discovered a world that appealed to him, with a clear preference for sommellerie, right from the school’s first open day. “I immediately fell under its spell. Sommellerie is a mix of travels linked to the terroir, exchanges with the winemaker, discoveries with the customer and close relations with the kitchen. That day, I found my calling. Very much at ease in his new environment, he loves the theatrical aspect of a restaurant. “Whether it’s a bottle or a dish, we have the chance and the responsibility to tell a story. There’s no point in doing this job if you’re just going to be a plate setter.
© Hayley hay
Sommellerie 2.0
A series of prestigious professional experiences followed, starting on the shores of Lake Annecy at the Michelin-starred Clos des Sens restaurant run by the inimitable chef Laurent Petit. Far from the comfort of his hotel school, he learned the hard realities of the profession. “Even if you get used to it over time, in the beginning you’re never ready to face the day-to-day difficulties of the restaurant business. You never know until you experience it. It’s a job of passion; you either love it, or you leave it. Thanks to the people he comes into contact with, he quickly realizes that sommellerie is a multi-faceted playground. Mathieu Quetglas wants to bring his profession into the modern age by taking it far beyond “simple” tasting, cellar building or creating standard food and wine pairings. “It’s up to our generation to give sommellerie a little extra soul”.
Returning to theHôtel de Ville restaurantin Crissier, he continues his impressive rise in the wine world alongside Benoit Violier in the kitchen, Louis Villeneuve in the dining room and Michele Caimotto juggling the bottles. The budding sommelier drew his knowledge from this exceptional trio before following Jeremy Desbraux to the
The Hotel Valrose is well worth the trip, the detour, the displacement, and to get there, any means are good. This establishment is a real boost to a region that seemed to be falling asleep and resting on its many institutions. “While remaining humble, we nonetheless want to achieve great things. With a young and dynamic wait staff, orchestrated by sommelier Mathieu Quetglas, the future looks bright for this establishment, which has not finished making a name for itself.
