Thomas LORIVAL

Chef de service : 2 restaurants Head sommelier : 2 restaurants Thomas Lorival was predestined to be a chef, but his passion for wine led him to "enter the dining room". A judicious initiative that has earned him the title of Gault&Millau Restaurant Manager of the Year 2022.

Presentation

"I come from a family of epicureans, who like to eat and drink well; in short, to feast on a good meal." With the desire to perpetuate this tradition, Thomas Lorival trained in the catering professions at the Lycée Hyacinthe Friant in Poligny. "When I did my internship at La Chèvre d'Or, in Èze, alongside Philippe Labbé, I had a revelation. I wasn't interested in cooking, but in seeing people in the dining room marvelling at what they were eating." The young apprentice soon changed direction, turning to sommellerie and obtaining his "mention complémentaire". "It became a real passion. From the age of 15, I started investing all my money in a collection of wine bottles, with the aim of opening them when I was 20, like my grandfather used to do when he pulled out an old bottle."

At weekends, to deepen his knowledge in this field, he joined Jean-Paul Jeunet's team at Maison Jeunet in Arbois (Jura). He then moved on to Régis and Jacques Marcon in Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid (Haute-Loire). A year later, he reunited with his former mentor, the great sommelier Pascal Paulze, at L'Oasis in Mandelieu-la-Napoule. "He gave me a global vision of the restaurant business and helped me refine my food and wine pairings."

Thomas Lorival left in 2015 for Oslo, where he was appointed head sommelier and room manager at Maaemo. "Everything there was done in the greatest local tradition. When I returned to France, I wanted to revive this philosophy." At that time, Laurent and Martine Petit, the owners of Clos des Sens in Annecy, had begun a shift towards plants and the three surrounding lakes: Lac d'Annecy, Lac du Bourget and Lac Léman. Seduced by this initiative, Thomas Lorival joined them in 2016 as head sommelier, then very quickly as room manager. In 2019, he was appointed co-director of the establishment, which he bought in 2023 with chef Franck Derouet. Gault&Millau salutes his fine expertise by awarding him the Salle Director of the Year 2022 prize.

B. G.