What future for sommellerie?
Eleven perspectives to shape it.
To mark International Sommelier Day, Le Journal du Sommelier wanted to ask the question where it deserves to be asked: in the field — in restaurant dining rooms, in the vineyards, in schools and on the other side of the world.
Wine is changing. Vineyards are adapting, consumers are evolving, and younger generations are reinventing their relationship with alcohol. The sommelier’s profession is also transforming — in its working hours, its tools, its very definition. In the face of these profound changes, one question stands out: where are we heading?
To answer it, I chose to give a voice to eleven professionals with very different backgrounds, generations and horizons. From leading figures to young talents, from Paris to New York via Mauritius and Switzerland, each brings their vision, their convictions and sometimes their doubts — Eleven voices. Eleven visions. One shared love of the profession.
Three main themes shape our conversations:
Ecology and the vineyard — How are sommeliers helping vineyards adapt to global warming? Which grape varieties, which terroirs, which practices for tomorrow?
Changing consumption — Falling alcohol consumption, the rise of no-low, guests’ new expectations: how is sommellerie reinventing itself to remain at the heart of the gastronomic experience?
The appeal and future of the profession — Working conditions, training, recognition of skills: how can sommellerie become a desirable career for the coming generations?
The portraits are published throughout June 2026.
– Yanna Delière – Founder of Le Journal du Sommelier
1/10 Philippe Faure-Brac: What Future for Sommellerie?
My approach was born of a desire to test theory against the realities of the field. To understand the profound changes in the industry — between the climate emergency and new drinking habits — it seemed essential to call on authoritative expertise.
Philippe Faure-Brac embodies this cross-cutting vision: his unique career and global network offer an essential lens for deciphering today’s debates.
Through this interview, I want to share an overall vision with you, informed by the experience of a man who has watched the profession evolve and who continues to shape it every day.
2/10 Marie Wodecki: The Energy of a New Generation in the Service of Heritage
Including Marie Wodecki in this series was essential to root the conversation in French territory — more precisely in Alpine France, which produces some of the most exciting wines of the moment. Best Young Sommelier of France 2023, she works at Saba restaurant in Annecy — a region she passionately champions as one of the terroirs of the future in the face of global warming.
But it was above all her vision of the profession that convinced me to give her a voice. Marie Wodecki doesn’t talk about sommellerie as a fixed discipline — she talks about it as a living tool, in the service of the guest and their pleasure. Making wine fun, adapting the conversation, offering different formats, rethinking management: she embodies this generation of sommeliers who reject posturing and prefer action. In a series where each voice brings a different colour, hers is that of modernity rooted in the field.
3/10 Pascaline Lepeltier: The Philosophy of Wine in Motion
Pascaline Lepeltier is one of those rare professionals who talk about front-of-house work with the same depth as about wine itself. Trained in France and flourishing in New York, she has built a vision of the sommelier that goes far beyond tasting or knowledge of appellations.
What sets her apart? Pascaline names what many feel without knowing how to express it: the intelligence of service, the ability to read a table, to create a connection, to turn a meal into a human experience. Qualities that long remained in the shadows — and that she is working, with conviction, to bring back into the light.
Meeting Pascaline means understanding that tomorrow’s sommellerie will not be played out only in cellars or vineyards. It will be played out in the dining room.
4/10 Bastien Debono: Competition Rigour in the Service of Emotion
Bastien Debono is one of those sommeliers who chose the mountains — and not just as a backdrop. Head sommelier at Yoann Conte’s Maison Bleue, in Veyrier-du-Lac in Haute-Savoie, he champions every day grape varieties that many still overlook, in a wine region that climate change is reshaping in its own way.
What sets him apart? Bastien talks about wine with the precision of a champion — he is Best Sommelier of France 2024 — but also with the humility of someone who knows that true expertise is built over time, not in competitions. He has strong convictions about restaurant economics, alcohol-free drinks and training. And he expresses them without mincing his words.
Meeting Bastien means understanding that tomorrow’s sommellerie will not be played out only in the great Parisian cellars. It will also be played out in the Alps, with indigenous grape varieties and a vision of service rooted in reality.
5/10 Charline Pichon: Precision in the Service of Terroir
For this fifth portrait in my series dedicated to the great voices of sommellerie, I went to Switzerland to meet Charline Pichon. Head sommelier at the Hôtel de Ville de Crissier — three Michelin stars, voted best restaurant in the world in 2016 — she achieved a historic double in 2025: being named Sommelier of the Year by Gault&Millau and receiving the Michelin Guide Sommelier Award.
Including Charline in this series was essential to show that there is no ready-made path to success at the highest level. Her career proves that discretion and humility are not obstacles but driving forces. With Charline, I wanted to explore the sommellerie of intuition and psychology — the kind that can tell its story simply, even at the summit of excellence.
6/10 David Biraud: Perseverance in the Service of the Art of Wine
For this new episode of my series dedicated to the faces of world sommellerie, I have the great honour of introducing David Biraud. Meeting David Biraud means encountering one of the most impressive and respected track records in the profession. A man for whom excellence is not a destination, but a constant journey.
Including David Biraud in my series was a priority to address the transformation of the vineyard and of the sommelier’s profession, and to understand his current vision of sommellerie.
Hearing his perspective means benefiting from the analysis of an expert who has watched the profession transform over three decades. His testimony brings to our “index of perspectives” a dimension of wisdom and hindsight that is essential to grasp tomorrow’s challenges.
7/10 Jérôme Faure: The Sommelier Who Conquered the Indian Ocean
For this seventh portrait, I join Jérôme Faure in Mauritius. A Maître Sommelier and Knight of the Order of Agricultural Merit, he has overseen for more than twenty years the cellars of 25 restaurants and nearly 100 sommeliers within the Constance Hotels & Resorts group. What makes him unique in this series: he is the only one to have built a wine culture from scratch, on an island with no winemaking tradition.
In this interview, he tackles the big issues of the moment with a vision rooted in the field and shaped by the experience of the exceptional. On climate, he trusts our existing viticultural heritage — reintroducing and rebalancing rather than reinventing everything. On no-low, he has changed his mind: reluctant a few years ago, he now sees it as a gateway to wine, provided quality remains the priority. And on training, he knows a thing or two — some of his sommeliers had never tasted wine before joining him. His conviction: wine is within everyone’s reach, provided you are well guided.
8/10 Edmond Gasser: The Aesthete of Sommellerie at the Heart of Maison Pic
Winner of the Michelin Guide’s 2024 Sommelier Award, Edmond Gasser embodies top-level sommellerie — the kind that elevates signature cuisine through sensitivity and discretion rather than display. Having worked at Europe’s greatest houses, he now heads the sommellerie at Maison Pic in Valence, Anne-Sophie Pic’s three-starred temple of gastronomy. In this interview, he champions an unapologetic vision of the profession: that of a hedonist sommelier who puts emotion before technique. He tackles head-on the big issues stirring the profession — alcohol-free as an economic and gastronomic lever, and the future of a profession he views with clear-eyed optimism.
9/10 Gabrielle Vizzavona: Pen and Palate in the Service of Wine
An economist by training, a journalist for 15 years, winner of the Prix Curnonsky, author and podcaster — Gabrielle Vizzavona is one of the most distinctive voices in the wine industry today. In this interview, she takes a cross-cutting, uncompromising look at the major changes in the sector: global warming, falling consumption, rising prices and the future of the sommelier’s profession. A clear-eyed, nuanced reading, informed by more than 4,000 tastings a year and a dual French-American culture.
10/10 Eric Boschman: The Entertainer of Sommellerie
Best Sommelier of Belgium 1988, a key figure in the Belgian media and creator of the Wine Man Show — Eric Boschman is one of those who brought wine out of hushed cellars and into the spotlight. In this interview, which closes our series, he gives an unfiltered view of the profession’s big challenges: tomorrow’s terroirs, no-low, crazy mark-ups, training and working conditions. Provocative, clear-eyed and always funny — exactly as we expected.
11/10 Adèle Le Bail: Sommellerie Through the Eyes of Gen Z
To close this series, over to the next generation. Adèle Le Bail is 22, is preparing her Certificate of Specialisation in sommellerie and qualified for the final of the 2026 Meilleur Apprenti de France. I met her as a member of the jury — and I immediately knew she had to close this series: hers is the voice of a generation arriving with curiosity, humility and a real desire to challenge preconceptions.