Welcome to the Areni Global podcast. Today’s episode is called “Teaching for Tomorrow: In Conversation with Pascaline Lepeltier”. In this engaging conversation your host, Pauline Vicard delves into the importance of learning wine facts, despite the ubiquity of Google. Together they emphasize the need to contextualize factual knowledge for those building careers in the wine industry. The discussion also touches on Pascaline's unique approach to wine tasting, challenging conventional methods. Join us for a geeky yet insightful exploration with real-life implications for redefining wine education and building successful careers in the Fine Wine sector. 

More about today’s guest Pascaline Lepeltier:

Growing up in the Loire Valley and detouring from a master’s in philosophy and a career as a university teacher, Pascaline began her obsession with wine at the two star Michelin-rated L’Auberge Bretonne under celebrated Chef Jacques THOREL. Within a year, she was named both Best Loire Valley Young Sommelier and Best Brittany Sommelier. While working as Beverage Director at Rouge Tomate in Brussels, she interned at the George V in Paris under the direction of Best European Sommelier and Best World Sommelier runner-up Eric BEAUMARD. Promoted to the position of Beverage Director for the Rouge Tomate flagship in New York, she moved to Manhattan in 2009. Within months, she was named one of the five best new US sommeliers of 2011 by Wine & Spirits, one of the “New Wine Prophets” by Time Out NY, one of the “40 under 40” beverage influencers by Wine Enthusiast and called the “Natural Wine Evangelist” by Ray ISLE in Food & Wine.

In 2018, she became a partner in Racines NY, one of the top wine destinations in the USA. In 2022, alongside Chef Jonathan Karis, General Manager Jared David and wine guru David Lillie, she opened Chambers, a farm-to-table wine-focused restaurant in TriBeCa. She overlooks with sommelier Ellis Srubas-Giammanco a 2000+ wine list focusing on “vins de vignerons”, mostly organic, biodynamic and natural. In 2014, Pascaline passed the Master Sommelier Diploma, and in 2018, she won 2 more major titles in her homeland: she is now a laureate of “Un des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France - Sommellerie” and Best French Sommelier 2018. In January 2019, the famous French magazine La Revue du Vin de France awarded her “Personality of the Year 2019”, the first woman to be given this prestigious recognition. In 2023, she represented France in the ASI Best Sommelier in the World held in Paris. She finished 4th. To continue reading more on Pascaline and all her professional accomplishments, we invite you to view her bio here. 

Learn more:

https://www.instagram.com/pascalinelepeltier/

https://twitter.com/plepeltier

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pascaline-lepeltier-2a319184/

More about today’s host: 

Pauline Vicard is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Areni Global. She was born and raised into a winemaking family in Burgundy, and she has been working in the wine sector for the last 15 years both in Europe and Internationally, in the market research department of the Burgundy wine office and the French Embassy, before creating her own corporate wine events and education company in Lille, France. She moved to London in 2015 to spearhead the Wine Library of the unique and acclaimed Clerkenwell London, a multi-space design destination, before developing the concept of Fine Minds 4 Fine Wines with Nicole Rolet that led to the creation of Areni Global.

Pauline now directs all Areni’s activities, when she is not studying for the Master of Wine exam or playing ultimate frisbee.

Learn more about Areni Global:

Website: https://areni.global/

Facebook: @FM4FW

Twitter: @areniglobal

Instagram: @areniglobal

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/areni-global/

If you want to read the cliff notes on today’s interview, just head to https://areni.global/research/podcasts/  

Thank you for joining us today!