The Chaîne des Rôtisseurs is one of the oldest gastronomic societies in the world. It brings professionals and enthusiasts together around the table and is organised into national and regional bailliages. The Monaco bailliage featured me in June 2024 in its series on professional members.
Within a bailliage, the Échanson is the person responsible for wine: selection, service, transmission. The word is old. It once described the officer who served drink at a prince’s table, and the function is still a concrete one. That is the title I hold in Monaco.
The portrait goes back to the founding of Vinipedia in 2011 and recalls a path that begins in Turkey: the country’s first certified sommelière, and the first woman to reach the Turkish final of the Young Sommeliers Competition, in 2010.
It also sets out what the work covers day to day: tastings and food-and-wine dinners, corporate seminars, wine tourism, wine list creation and cellar development for hotels, restaurants and private clients, and training for floor teams.
Two figures recur in the text: more than 3,000 private individuals and professionals trained, and tours organised in more than 30 wine regions across some ten countries.