Stéphanie HUG
Sommelier : 1 restaurant Sommelier in the Pyrénées-Orientales region, Stéphanie Hug and her husband Thibaut Lesage run La Bartavelle, a restaurant renowned for its cuisine and cellar dedicated to wine and local produce.
Presentation
Born to a father who was a doctor and a mother who was a nurse, young Stéphanie Hug never imagined that she would follow in her parents' footsteps. A brilliant student, she did maths sup', but stopped before maths spé, made a 180° turn by doing hypokhâgne and khâgne, began studying sociology and gradually realized that she wasn't fulfilling her potential in these studies. "As a child and teenager, I cooked a lot with my grandmothers. I also had a great-grandfather who worked in the Mumm cellars, and who would bring us back some very fine vintages for the big family celebrations. And these happy memories, which had been unconscious until then, gradually came back to the surface, like a matter of course ".
Stéphanie knows every winegrower on her menu
at the age of 22, the young woman entered the Perpignan Hotel School to take a BTS in catering. From then on, it was a certainty that she would become a chef. After a series of experiences, she joined the kitchens of L'Arapède, just outside Collioure, where she met her future husband, Thibaut Lesage, also a chef. At the same time, the young woman took up pastry-making, still thirsting to learn, and the couple, who had just welcomed a baby daughter, opened La Bartavelle in the village of Argelès. "We lived above this former crêperie, which had gone bankrupt. When it came to deciding whether Thibaut or I would go into the restaurant, the choice was quick. I wanted to be in direct contact with customers. I already loved wine, so I did a lot of training and reading, and now I personally know all the winemakers on my wine list. It's a necessity for me. They all work organically or biodynamically, even if this principle has forced me to stop working with some of the winemakers who accompanied us in the early years. "
Passionate about vines and wine, and striving to know every detail of the cuvées she proposes to an often passionate clientelestéphanie never hesitates to point out that health also depends on " what we drink and what we eat. With Thibaut behind the stove, it's this philosophy that drives us on a daily basis, both in the restaurant and in our personal lives. "
Biography & Awards
Her restaurant
