Its success sounds like a message of hope. Yes, it is possible, in a few years, to start “from nothing or almost” in the knowledge of wines until becoming the best young sommelier in France (MJSF). This is the rather singular journey of Marie Wodecki.
The native of Montfermeil (Seine-Saint-Denis) was titled in mid-June in Corsica after only six years in the business. Worse, after only six years of taking a close interest in the precious beverage. “I really didn’t know much about it, I just tasted it with my parents and that’s it,” sums up the 25-year-old young woman, who then had other ambitions. Rather very sweet since she dreamed of being a “pastry chef”.
His studies went in the same direction, with a bachelor’s degree on the subject at the Ferrandi school in Paris. “I had a passion for taste since I was little. I thought it was a job where you had to be meticulous, precise, ”explains the one who then completed internships before being hired as a clerk and then chef de partie in a starred restaurant in Annecy. A fully mapped out route. Except that… “It was really at that time in 2017 that I had a questioning, interrupts the person concerned. I realized that I needed a contact with the customers. And during an internship in Colmar, I went to visit several estates with the restaurant’s sommeliers (two-starred by Jean-Yves Schillinger). I loved it because we covered a lot of points in wine: history, geography, of course viticulture. I discovered an exciting world. I really thought it was a great job! »
“My life was devoted to learning”
That she would also like to practice, always in the middle of high gastronomy. But how to get there “I went all out. My life was devoted to learning, ”replies Marie Wodecki, who therefore went through an additional mention in Groisy (Haute-Savoie) then a work-study diploma. All while working as an apprentice sommelier “in a bistro in Annecy”.
“Then in 2020, I participated in two competitions which I won. That’s when I said to myself ” it’s good, I’ve found my way ”, laughs the Francilienne, now back in her region of birth since 2021. Since she entered the famous Hôtel de Crillon as an apprentice, now a “clerk sommelier”. Place de la Concorde, this daughter of doctors now fully exercises her favorite role. “You have to know the wines we have in the cellar, their typicality and answer customers’ questions when serving them”, she explains, helped in her learning by daily tastings: “yes, we taste each wine in front of the customer. , in particular so as not to serve a corked bottle. »
“We feel that she has the heart and the passion”
An exercise that certainly served him during the famous competition in Corsica. “She impressed me when she had to blindly describe four wines. She made quite accurate comments”, recalls Serge Dubs, best sommelier in the world in 1989 and member of the jury. “Then we gave her the labels to put on the bottles and she did that very quickly. She remembered everything she had explained, it was very impressive. In addition, with ease and relaxation… You can feel that she has the heart and the passion. »
Marie Wodecki confirms: she no longer intends to change branch anytime soon. “Wine is a product that brings conviviality, in an exciting world where I learn every day. ” Quick and well.