Discreet, affable, modest and imbued with unparalleled humility, Marion Cirino exudes this sibylline complex of self-taught people: this need to always work harder, investigate, search in order to be part of the upper class. And yet, the one who during twenty years will have built one of the most beautiful cellars in France, crowned on numerous occasions (RVF Cellar of the Year 2017) within the double-starred L’Hostellerie Jérôme in La Turbie, has joins L’Ambroisie, Place des Vosges in Paris, as head sommelier during the summer of 2023.
A classical musician by trade, trained at the conservatory and member of the Paris orchestral ensemble, it was in 1997, at the Royal Monceau, that she met the man who would become her husband, Bruno Cirino. He, chef of the said establishment, she, harpist from time to time in the restaurant, to entertain the guests. In 1999, the Cirinos headed south to take over the Hostellerie Jérôme, a sublime 16th century building with a panoramic terrace.
A wine list that was over a hundred pages long
In 2000, they won their first star, then the second in 2002. But it was in the mid-2000s that Marion Cirino truly became passionate about wine, having to replace the sommelier of the time for a few services. Now anchored in her body, her passion for wine will never leave her. Over the years, she built a legendary cellar, with more than 40,000 bottles covering all regions of France, distilled in multiple cellars in the heart of La Turbie. “When we arrived at La Turbie, we started from zero. A few years later, the wine list was over a hundred pages long, but it barely represented 10% of our stock. The rest were napping peacefully, I only took out the bottles at their peak: nothing is more beautiful than a bottle that we have waited for and which gives grace in its last sighs” she whispered to us during the beginnings of our interview.
Join the Place des Vosges institution? A real challenge, because although this three-star restaurant for over thirty years and its owner, Bernard Pacaud, will have left their mark on French gastronomy, wine was not the House’s priority. But Marion Cirino can today count on the total confidence of the new owner, Walter Butler, who gives her carte blanche to make the former Hôtel des Luynes a reference place for oenophiles.
“The important thing is that the customer is happy”
So no more thick crystal glasses and make way for Spiegelau Definition, Riedel, Lehmann glassware and Zalto carafes. There is also room for winegrowers’ champagnes, and new regions still little or not explored by the establishment: Languedoc, the Loire, the wines of Bandol, Savoie… But also to the big names of the vineyard, with whom Marion will have woven strong human ties for several decades and which give him access today to a depth of vintages: Bernaudeau, Roumier, Raveneau, Mortet, Foreau, the Tempier estates, Grange des Pères, Rayas…
-“Ambroisie enjoys a strong identity. I do not want to rush the customers or the kitchen in any way. Bernard Pacaud lavishes cuisine from memory, with great signature dishes, which sometimes call for wines different from those that I offered at the Hostellerie, whose cuisine was mainly iodized. And if a customer asks me for a full-bodied wine with a delicate dish, I will try to stick as closely as possible to their wishes of the moment, without dogmatism. The customer must have a memorable time, I must accompany them by using the right words. And too bad if the agreement does not work in my opinion, the important thing is that the customer is happy and that this meal marks their life,” she insists.
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The world of wine has evolved a lot in 30 years, prices have taken off and the relationship with winegrowers has largely changed in certain regions prey to speculation, but Marion Cirino wishes to pursue the same philosophy that she has been manifesting for twenty years: to offer a wide choice of wines, at all prices. “A few decades ago, I could buy a Grand Cru from Leroy for the equivalent of €300. The issue is not the same today when the same vintage costs several thousand euros and it is increasingly difficult to have access to these bottles. But there are magnificent bottles at reasonable prices in all the French wine regions and beyond.” And Marion Cirino can count on the reputation that precedes her to have access to the precious bottles, that of a great lady of wine who a few years ago still served the wines of the coveted Richard Leroy by the glass, at a bistro rate.
An eternal hunter for extremely rare bottles whose estates have long since disappeared, but also an insatiable prospector of tomorrow’s winegrowers, Marion Cirino’s approach to wine is eminently contemporary. While waiting for the arrival of a new chef, the latter is “determined to continue writing the history of L’Ambroisie. The future is ahead, Place des Vosges, and I will have won my bet when I pass on the keys to a successful cellar to my successor,” she concluded.
