Ivan MANDELLI

Head sommelier : 1 restaurant

Presentation

At nearly 50 years of age, Ivan Mandelli is not one of those over-confident sommeliers who confuse arrogance with knowledge. This Italian-born sommelier likes to point out, without false modesty, that he has never worked with a famous sommelier, but that he has drawn a great deal of inspiration from the greats of the profession. "I have a lot of admiration for David Biraud, Xavier Thuizat and Antoine Pétrus. I've watched them a lot, especially on videos, and I try to draw inspiration from them."

As a young man, Christopher Hache's future sommelier quickly wanted to become independent. Many of his cousins worked in the kitchen, but he wanted to stand out from the crowd and was attracted to the restaurant business. "At the beginning of my career, I worked a lot in luxury establishments, particularly in Switzerland, in Gstaad, Crans-Montana or Vevey, while alternating with stays in Italy, Bermuda or the UK, to perfect my English. In fact, it was at the Fairmont Southampton, in Bermuda, at the turn of the 2000s, that I began to take a real interest in the sommelier profession."

After a variety of experiences, in 2010 Ivan Mandelli joined Denis Martin in Vevey, one of the popes of molecular cuisine, as head sommelier, where he stayed for 18 months, before crossing paths with Johan Thyriot (now at Domaine du Colombier) and Émilie Delouye, who opened MEO, in Tarascon, in 2012. "An exciting experience, in a house where everything had to be built."

But it was obviously with Christopher Hache, arriving from Crillon to take over the former Maison Bru, that the Lombard sommelier would truly blossom. "Christopher trusted me and gave me carte blanche. I created the entire cellar and, four years later, we had over 450 references, with an obvious predilection for Rhône and Provence wines. I had to make my mark, get the allocations, set out to discover the winegrowers, taste and gain acceptance."

It was obviously an exhilarating experience that came to an end - on good terms - in early 2024. But this son of two nurses has already found a new base "very close to Eygalières, in another beautiful house". In 2024, Gault&Millau awarded him the Sommelier trophy for the PACA region.