Vêena Danre, passion for wine and admiration for sake
Vêena is from Champagne and proud of it. She grew up surrounded by her parents, owners of an Italian restaurant. Wine has always been a passion of hers, and even more so today. Starting out as a receptionist on Ponant cruises, it was by chance that she met one of the passengers, owner of Château Fleur Cardinal, in the middle of reading a book on oenology, who offered her the book, revealing a budding passion in the young woman. Something clicked for Vêena, and she set off to Egypt to study sommellerie by correspondence, while at the same time taking scuba diving courses. With their respective diplomas in hand, she returned to her native region to pick grapes, but this time, no scissors or hood, as the young graduate was to train as a wine merchant.
From Lyon to Corsica
The young aspiring sommelier’s first experiences were in Lyon, in a cellar containing over 900 references, then at the Bastille de Gordes in Les Airelles, and finally at the Maison de la Truffe et du Vin, where she managed the entire cellar. This was followed by a trip to Latin America for a road-trip along the wine trail. But Covid soon caught up with her, forcing her to find a job in real estate in southern Corsica. “The health crisis was devastating for many restaurateurs. I launched my own business in parallel with my job in order to convey emotions. During prestige tastings, I proposed Corsican food and wine pairings, which enabled me to keep in touch with sommellerie and broaden my knowledge by tasting products I had only discovered in books.”
Vêena continues her journey at the Mandarin Oriental. Driven by curiosity and like Corsica, she dreamed of discovering the wines of our beautiful country. But at the Sachi restaurant, she has a new mission: sakés (nihonshu). And what better way to discover a product than to visit its place of origin? ” For me, sommeliers are thelink between winemakers and customers, and it’sup to us to convey emotion. We can’t do it by memorizing books; that emotion has to be personal.”
Sake passion
With over 30 saké references, Vêena recommends the “Omakase” experience: a tasting of 6 to 8 sakés, each with its own identity, designed by the master sommelier for a perfect match with sauces and dishes. And let’s not forget the sake created by the famous Nobu Matsuhisa to match his sauces. At Sachi, we are fortunate to work with Chef Mitsu (Mitsuru Tsukada), who was a student of Nobu. It’s a great honor for him to be able to work with his master’s creations. To get the full experience, you have to taste the sake specially designed for these sauces.”
If you’d like to taste Chef Mitsu’s dishes, let Vêena’s suggestions carry you along: follow the Champagne route with Henri Giraud’s Réserve Perpétuelle, listen to her suggestions for Burgundy wines, go for the atypical with a yellow wine that goes perfectly with Japanese flavors, or let yourself be tempted by the Master’s sake. And if you’re not a fan of Asian food, our sommelier at Ottolenghi will share her knowledge of the Mediterranean with you.
