Maxime VALÉRY

Head sommelier : 1 restaurant

Presentation

Maxime Valéry's passion for travel led him to train in the hotel and restaurant trade, followed by a year's specialization in sommellerie. His many travels took him to Australia, New Zealand and French Polynesia. It was also an opportunity for him to work in the restaurant trade and discover vineyards at the other end of the world.

He landed in London in 2012, where he worked for two years as assistant to sommelier Pier-Alexis Soulière. Once back in France, Maxime Valéry's wealth of experience led him to a series of prestigious addresses, including the Hôtel du Palais, in Biarritz, and La Vague d'Or - Cheval Blanc, in Saint-Tropez, where he stayed for eight seasons alongside chef Arnaud Donckele. Gault&Millau named him Sommelier of the Year 2019.

In 2021, he joined Restaurant Paul Bocuse in Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or, near Lyon, where he now heads a team of five sommeliers. "It's a great challenge to set up a sommellerie in the image of this illustrious traditional house. I work with a wide selection of wines, open to the whole world. I've also set up an original service, using a dame-jeanne, a 60-liter carboy placed on a cart in the dining room. We also offer vin de maury, a natural sweet wine, by the pipette, directly in the glass, with cheese or dessert."

F.H.