"Taste is shaped by listening, by humility before the product, and by travel, whether real or inner."
Philippe Faure-Brac
Philippe Faure-Brac
A sommelier, restaurateur and passionate advocate, Philippe Faure-Brac champions wine as a culture of connection, gesture and emotion. Named Best Sommelier in the World in 1992, he has helped raise the profile of French sommelerie with an approach that is both rigorous and deeply accessible. Founder of the Bistrot du Sommelier in Paris, a venue that has become an institution, he nurtures a simple idea: a great wine only truly exists at the table, when it is shared. Author, educator and former president of the Union de la Sommellerie Française, he has spent more than thirty years passing on his knowledge in the service of taste and the art de vivre.
What is your story, your origins? I come from a family where taste was passed down without words, through gesture and through the table. My path, shaped by my grandparents who ran a restaurant in Briançon, was built from an early age around service, curiosity and exigency. Wine then came as a natural progression: a universal language that connects the land, the person and time.
What shaped your taste, in the broadest sense? Time spent in kitchens, cellars and markets, but above all with the men and women of the trade. Taste is shaped by listening, by humility before the product, and by travel, whether real or inner.
What craft was passed down to you? Rigour, respect for the product, attention to detail. But also the oral tradition: telling the story of a wine, giving it its rightful place, without ever overwhelming it with words.
What value do you in turn try to pass on? Sincerity. In wine as in life, one must seek rightness rather than effect. And never forget that pleasure is the point.
What would you have liked to do with your hands? To be a winegrower. To work the vines every day, to feel the rhythm of the seasons physically.
What is most French about you? The relationship with the table as a place of dialogue, debate and sharing. And a certain idea of understated elegance.
What has been your greatest adventure? Devoting my life to a vocation, sommelerie, and seeing it recognised on an international scale, without ever losing the connection with France.
What is your favourite bistrot or institution? Taillevent, for its living classicism and exceptional cellar, and the Tour d'Argent for the same reasons.
Which icon best represents France, in your view? Jean Gabin: straightforwardness, simplicity, depth without theatrics.
What is your mantra or a motto that guides your life? "Understand before you judge" and "Do not drink to forget, but taste to remember."
Is there an object or a work that embodies French taste? A well-designed tulip glass: functional, elegant, entirely at the service of what it contains.
Who would you have at your table for an ideal dinner? Auguste Escoffier, Paul Bocuse, Colette and a favourite winegrower, for balance.
What would your ideal menu be (starter, main, dessert and wine pairings)? To start: fine de claire oysters No. 2, a discreet squeeze of lemon, with a Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine sur lie. For the main: Bresse chicken with cream, with a Meursault. And to finish: poached pear with vanilla ice cream, with a demi-sec Vouvray.
What is your greatest gastronomic memory? A simple lunch at a winegrower's: bread, cheese, the estate's wine, and time standing still.
What does La Vieille Prune de Souillac evoke for you? Memory, patience, and that French ability to transform time into emotion.
