The title of best sommelier of France 2024 was won by Bastien Debono in November. The young man from Saint-Geniez studied at the city’s hotel high school.
At 32, Bastien Debono is the best sommelier in France 2024. His passion was born in Sisteron at the Paul-Arène high school. His former teacher in catering and oenology Christian Cros remembers very well the young student who has now become a friend.
“Bastien was relatively calm and even reserved. On the other hand, when he started working, he never gave up. He was a diligent person,” he confides.
“He’s a hard worker.”
At the time, it was already possible to detect his talent. He was always the last to leave the room and worked on his subjects outside of class.
“He has always been about positivity and the approach of going further. He is a hard worker,” adds his teacher at the time.
Franck Perard, deputy director of the Paul-Arène hotel school, salutes the success of the former student.
“We have a young person who lives in a village at an altitude of 1,000 meters, on a farm a few kilometers from the Sisteron hotel school. It’s the first stone in the building. That’s what the school is for. She allows each of us, wherever we live in the country, to be able to live the life to which we have the right. For Bastien it worked,” he explains.
Moved, he is delighted “to have a student who returned to us at 15 and that we find him best sommelier in France 17 years later. It’s a mixture of emotions and pride”.
“Very proud and very moved”
This Monday, December 16, accompanied by his father, Bastien Debono received congratulations from the city’s mayor Daniel Spagnou, whom he knows well.
“I am very proud and very moved, I signed this little one’s birth certificate and I know his parents well who are farmers. Today, he is a celebrity (…) I wish him to be one day the best sommelier in the world”, explains the mayor.
But, before having this title it took a lot of work. A well-defined agenda because working to pass the competition involves a series of days and hours of revision. For this, he was able to count on his Sisteronese roots to help him succeed.
“I come from an agricultural background, so we are used to being around the environment. The town of Sisteron has a fabulous hotel high school which has already trained great sommeliers. It was really a springboard for me,” says Bastien Debono.
The young man also started working in restaurants very early, at the age of 14. His job became clearer after discovering the subtleties of champagne. “I thought champagne had the same taste all the time. But no, it depends on who makes it, how they make it, where and what year they make it and how they age it. It’s all these these subtleties, it nourished me and I liked it,” explains the best sommelier in France.
“I bet on myself”
But being a sommelier is not just about knowing wines. He must be able to be in charge of all the drinks.
“We ask you for as much knowledge about coffee, tea, sake, liqueurs… It’s very diverse. To make the difference, we’ll look for details like particular agings,” he explains.
Preparing as well as possible also requires a financial investment. He is not “lucky enough to be funded”. So, he tries to visit as many vineyards as possible.
“Once or twice a month, I buy bottles to train with. All travel is my responsibility, I bet on myself and it worked out for me,” he reports. .
However, Bastien Debono has not always been successful. He reached the semi-finals three times. More mature this time, he was “prepared to go to the end”.
For the first time, he was confronted with competitors of his age, of his generation “which was not the case in previous years when the sommeliers were more experienced”.
“This year, I also put in the resources with good coaches, a team of five sommeliers who prepared daily workshops for me. I was able to have a little more free time for preparation, which meant that I I was able to stand out from the crowd,” he says.
Today, the Sisteronais is a sommelier in a very beautiful address run by Yoann Conte in Annecy. There he is preparing for the Court of Master Sommelier which he will take in April. He also hopes to be able to obtain the title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France, before one day aiming for a world title.
