Florian Guilloteau on the sommelier’s art

I completely revamped the wine lists for all of the restaurants and bars, including the Espadon restaurant, the Bar Vendôme, and the Ritz Bar. I also refreshed and renamed all the wine pairings.

I wanted to bring a bespoke approach to the hotel’s rooms and suites. We anticipate the preferences of guests we already know by offering them a bottle they particularly enjoy, to be savored at the perfect temperature as soon as they arrive. Through these small gestures, I try to create an experience that really gets to the heart of why wine culture remains such a critical part of our heritage. It’s good to be able to bring this resonance right into guests’ rooms.

Definitely. My entire career has been shaped by the principle of apprenticeships. Passing on knowledge is in my DNA, and to me it’s the most wonderful thing there is. Part of the duty of a sommelier is to give others a voice, to speak up for them. That’s why I’m president of a sommeliers’ association. I serve as an exam judge as often as I can, and attend events to share ideas and inspire young people.

It houses all our wines from the wine-growing regions except for Bordeaux, where they are stored on-site. My hope is that a guest coming to enjoy an experience at the Espadon restaurant can taste a wine from each region. Corsica and Provence, for example, were virtually unrepresented. Together with the Cheffe, we’re creating many food-wine pairings; we’ve both worked in the south of France, where some wineries are real gems.

We do indeed allow the time it takes to bring our wines to full maturity. That’s a rare thing in Paris, so we’re fortunate to have that opportunity. The Ritz Paris never buys the same wine twice. We usually source all of our wines directly and then age them ourselves, in order to ensure our own supply. We have more than 3,400 labels, including 1,200 wines currently aging.

Since the Espadon restaurant is such a high-profile setting, the Cheffe's goal was to create a cuisine with its own distinct character, rather than a formal “palace of gastronomy”. I was already acquainted with Eugénie Béziat, so my vision chimed perfectly with hers.

Our food and wine pairings extend right up to the rarest, most exquisite bottles. We also cover more lateral pairings that may include a cordial, a wine, a sake, and a digestif. Alcohol-free pairings are of course available by request.

The Cheffe is very much immersed in the world of aroma. This very much fits how we approach wine, where the wider senses are as important as taste and feel. When she creates a dish, she gives me the key elements, and I get a feel for the wines that will work best with it. We work on pairings, we taste, we refine. Throughout, I always ask my teams for their input.

Absolutely. The aroma has to be there, of course, but the ultimate aim is to create a symbiosis on the palate. I often say that a dish is somewhat like a human being. It has its flaws and its strengths, and to a degree the wine should play to the former, allowing the strengths of the dish to offset any limitations in the wine. If you serve a powerful dish with an equally assertive wine, the alchemy will remain elusive. It’s all about finding the balance.

Absolutely. For example, the Cheffe had created a lobster dish centered around verbena. We initially tasted two Burgundy wines that seemed like a logical pairing for the dishes, but they brought out too much bitterness. In the end, we switched to the exact opposite of our initial instinct. The beauty of the dish was an amazing light, airy quality with a long finish. The first hit is very full-bodied, but the mid-palate is quite delicate. So we played on that delicate part and went with older vintages.

It’s important to me that our guests understand the key principles of food and wine pairing; why we chose this type of wine, or that specific approach. We strive to be authentic and accurate, helping to build a genuine connection. I also make sure my sommeliers check in with every table. We offer surprise menus with wines served blind. The first time, we approach the guest to serve them a glass of wine; the second time to suggest they taste the wine with the dish; the third time to hear their impressions. The fourth time, we reveal the wine.

Very much so. It's really about sharing. As Paul Bocuse used to say, customers are here to enjoy themselves, and we're here to do our utmost to ensure they do.