Vanessa Massé, January 19, 2021 in her Pure & V restaurant in Nice -

F. Binacchi / ANP / 20 Minutes

  • The Michelin Guide has awarded the title of “best sommelier of the year” to a 30-year-old restaurateur from Nice.

  • Vanessa Massé has made a specialty of natural wines, which she now also defends in her consulting and trading company.

As soon as it can reopen, the Pure & V restaurant, launched by Vanessa Massé in 2018 in Nice, should not have too much trouble filling up.

After a first star obtained last year, the owner of the premises has just won the title of "best sommelier" awarded by the Michelin Guide.

And the Franco-Portuguese, only 30 years old, passed through the biggest houses and specialist in “natural wines”, is counting on this new light to also grow her recently created consulting and trading company.

Critics have again chosen to distinguish you.

What did you think made the difference?

I think it is perhaps thanks to my fairly assertive character that allows me to adapt to each client.

I try to find a wine that can go well with each dish, but especially with the person in front of me.

Always with the idea of ​​highlighting the product, in this case natural wines, that is to say non-sulphite, in which no yeast has been added and for which fertilizers have been avoided, between other stuff.

This is the concept that I wanted to defend with this restaurant, where we offer locavore cuisine centered on the simplicity of the product and seasonality.

It's true that I may have turned things up a bit when I arrived on the Côte d'Azur in 2017 [native of Nantes, she trained as a sommelier in Angers then in Béziers until the additional mention before to go around the world in several famous famous houses] and by offering an establishment that is doubtless far from a certain “m'as-tu-vu” in Nice.

While restaurants are not yet allowed to reopen, how do you spend your days?

I take this opportunity to go see my winegrowers, to travel.

Last week I was in the Douro Valley [in Portugal].

And [this Wednesday], I'm leaving for ten days in Beaujolais, Auvergne, Bujey and Savoie.

I plan to bring back 4,000 bottles.

Ultimately, this year, I would like to build the largest cellar of natural wines on the Côte d'Azur, with 2,000 references and nearly 70,000 bottles.

It will be shared between the restaurant and the company I created in December.

What do you offer?

In particular, I can intervene in other establishments for the constitution of their wine list.

I would really like all restaurants to get into "nature", at least that they offer some references.

There should be awareness around this product which is pure, a squeezed, fermented and bottled grape juice.

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  • Restaurant

  • Michelin Guide

  • Gastronomy

  • Nice

  • Interview

  • Wine