Estelle Touzet

Estelle Touzet, born in 1981 in Châteauroux (Indre), is a French chef sommelier.

Introduced to French cuisine and wine at an early age, Estelle Touzet worked in a number of restaurants and palaces, notably in Paris.

Born in 1981 in Châteauroux (Indre) to parents from the Castelroussins region, Estelle Touzet learned baking and pastry-making at the age of five from her two grandmothers in Issoudun.

Her grandfathers introduced her to the wines of the Loire Valley, particularly Reuilly, Quincy, Chinon, Menetou-Salon and Sancerre, at Sunday dinners.

She completed her secondary education at the Collège Les Capucins in Châteauroux.

It was there that her history-geography teacher, Denis Hervier, and her German teacher, Jean-Louis Rizet, introduced her to the world of wine and gastronomy.

At the end of her third year, Estelle Touzet decided to continue her studies at the Brive-la-Gaillarde hotel school.

After graduating in 1995 with a baccalauréat in hotel and catering, she went on to study for a brevet de technicien supérieur (BTS) in "hotel and catering, culinary arts, table arts and service".

She spent a year in Brittany, specializing in dietetic cooking, before finishing in 2002 with a complementary mention in sommellerie at the Lycée Albert-de-Mun, in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, taught by Christine Vernay and Franck Ramage.

In 2003, she entered the job market, starting out as a chef at Château Cordeillan-Bages in the Médoc.

She then worked at Guy Savoy's restaurant in Paris, then at the Bristol (2003) and Crillon (2005) Parisian palaces, alongside David Biraud.

In 2006, she moved to Tom Aikens' Michelin-starred restaurant in London.

In 2008, she joined the team at Le Meurice as assistant to the head sommelier.

In 2010, after working at Le Meurice for two years, she became the first woman in the world to be appointed head sommelier of a three-star restaurant.

In parallel, she runs a wine consultancy and lectures at several hotel schools in France.

Recognized by her peers in a predominantly male environment, Estelle Touzet is one of the few female sommeliers in France.

In 2010, again at Le Meurice, she became the first woman in the world to be appointed head sommelier of a three-star restaurant.

Gilles Pudlowski wrote of her: "She impresses with her liveliness, naturalness and the pertinence of her choices in a three-star restaurant where she knows how to keep her identity. [...] Thanks to her, a dream meal is good, honest, fruity and pleasurable".

Between 2014 and 2017, she was president of Gustess, a wine consulting company.

In 2015, Estelle Touzet became head sommelier at the Ritz Paris for its reopening after four years of renovation.

With a team of seven to nine people (including one woman), she completely rethought the wine list and reviewed the 1,100 references in the palace's cellar, which included between 40,000 and 55,000 bottles of grands crus and rare vintages.

She was also involved in the development of a computer system to manage the cellar and wine invoicing more efficiently.

Her day-to-day work then included buying bottles, designing the wine list, training teams and providing service in the restaurants and lounges.

At the Ritz, she promoted a non-conformist vision of wine, highlighting unexpected pairings such as champagne with red mullet, or gamay with ravioli carbonara with peanut and bacon cream.

Her aim was to free herself from the technical details of the wines she tasted, to focus above all on their sensory characteristics.

Contrary to her usual practice, she systematically chose the wine she wanted to serve first, before working with the head chef to decide which dish would go best with it.

She favored lesser-known Loire Valley appellations, rather than the Burgundy and Bordeaux wines for which Parisian palace cellars were renowned.

In 2017, she confided that this activity complemented her profession as sommelier, when she directed, "like an orchestra conductor", the cellar of the Ritz Paris:

In September 2018, she inaugurated " Eudis du vin" (Wine Thursdays) at the Ritz Bar, fun wine-tasting workshops.

Estelle Touzet described her role as head sommelier at the Ritz as that of a "merchant of happiness", stating that "whatever bottle we choose, our customers should leave with an unforgettable memory".

At the same time, she gave lectures at several hotel schools in France.

In 2019, Estelle Touzet was part of the jury for the final of the 34th Best Apprentices of France competition, in the "Arts de la table" (Tableware) specialization.

In September 2020, as the hotel and restaurant industry faced the health and economic crisis caused by COVID-19, Estelle Touzet left her position at the Ritz Paris; her decision was motivated by "a change in personal life" and the setting of new professional goals, in particular her wish to create a new consulting company, specializing in wine-related projects.

She was a guest on Tout le monde joue en cuisine, a program hosted by Nagui on France 2 on September 22, 2020.

"According to culinary blogger Anne Lataillade, it's a 'book that's very educational (but not heavy-handed), very interesting about wine and pulls readers up by their bootstraps. The recipes are accessible [...]. Even if they are the consequence of choosing a wine, they are no less gourmet'. Food critic Gilles Pudlowski points out that Estelle Touzet 'delivers her wine and food pairings, her favorite vintages and her beautiful ideas in a beautifully illustrated book. It's wise, playful, fervent and colorful. [...] It's an opportunity to tell the story of a wine, to develop a pairing, to unfold a menu. This book of drawers is like a series of surprises, an opportunity to develop one's knowledge of taste, and therefore of oneself'. Journalist Charlotte Langrand adds that Estelle Touzet here takes 'habits in reverse by adapting recipes to wine' in a 'wonderful book'."

"In this special issue commissioned by the newspaper's editorial team, Estelle Touzet gives suggestions for pairing dishes with red, rosé or white sancerre."

The sommelier is also regularly interviewed for food and wine pairing tips in national media such as L'Express, France 2, Le Point, RTL, France Inter, Le Parisien Magazine and Madame Figaro.

Estelle Touzet is appointed to two national orders:

At the age of seven, Estelle Touzet learned to play the violin with her sister at the Conservatoire de Châteauroux.

In her spare time, she played in two groups, the Orchestre symphonique et lyrique de Paris and Les Ondes Plurielles.