Pascaline Lepeltier, MS, wins Meilleure Sommelière de France 2018!
11/18/18 -
Our dear friend, and neighbor at Racines NY, Pascaline Lepeltier, MS, has just achieved an historic double triumph, first winning the prestigious 2018 Meilleure Ouvrière de France (Sommellerie) title in October and then, last Sunday, winning the crown of Meilleure Sommelière de France!t The first woman to ever win these two competitions, Ms. Lepeltier is now a Managing Partner at Racines, working with owner/sommelier Arnaud Tronche, and with the remarkable Paul Liebrandt, Chef-in-Residence through December.
A native of La Rochelle, France, who grew up in Angers (Loire) Ms. Lepeltier was a student of Philosophy before a great bottle of Champagne and an Yquem 1937 turned her towards wine. Beginning her career in Brittany at the two-star Michelin-rated L’Auberge Bretonne under Chef Jacques Thorel, she started as assistant sommelière and soon presided over a list of more than 4500 wines. Quickly winning Best Young Sommelière Loire Valley and Best Brittany Sommelière, Pascaline joined the Rouge Tomate restaurant group, working in France, Belgium and New York, finishing up at Rouge Tomate Chelsea before moving on to Racines. Winning the Meilleur Ouvrier de France competition was an incredible achievement in which contestants must show not only thorough mastery of wine and all beverage service, but also the historic relations between wine, art, theatre, film and literature. In winning the Meillleur Sommelier de France title, Ms. Lepeltier demonstrated her encyclopedic knowledge of wine and spirits and her great skills in service, but it is perhaps her enthusiasm, warmth and convivial personality that make her indeed one of the very greatest of sommeliers.
