{"id":8758,"date":"2025-07-31T11:38:06","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T10:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sommelieredit.com\/?p=8758"},"modified":"2025-07-31T11:38:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T10:38:06","slug":"once-a-sommelier-always-a-sommelier-claire-thevenot-ms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sommelieredit.com\/au\/once-a-sommelier-always-a-sommelier-claire-thevenot-ms\/","title":{"rendered":"Once a Sommelier, Always a Sommelier: Claire Thevenot MS"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the restrained Georgian grandeur of Bath\u2019s Francis Hotel, a fire has been lit. Not just in the kitchen of its newly opened Emberwood restaurant – though there\u2019s that too – but in the wine list, authored by none other than Claire Thevenot MS, a figure both revered and elusive, whose career has spanned Bernard Loiseau to G\u00e9rard Basset, Cologne to Chablis, and Winchester to Wiltshire.<\/i><\/h3>\n

Thevenot, the first French woman to achieve the coveted title of Master Sommelier, speaks with calm precision and earthy grace. \u2018I grew up in a very rural part of Franche-Comt\u00e9,\u2019 she says, \u2018next to the Vosges. My parents were farmers, and everything on our table came from the farm or the garden. We preserved food for winter. My mum was a very keen forager – she always took me with her. The outdoors was our playground, and we learned to respect nature.\u2019<\/p>\n

This formative closeness to the land made itself felt years later, when Thevenot left London for Bath just before the pandemic. \u2018I thought I\u2019d become a city girl,\u2019 she admits, \u2018but during lockdown I spent my hour of freedom in the fields, foraging – and realised how much I missed the proximity to nature. That\u2019s when the idea of creating my own importing company really took hold. It was the ignition I needed.\u2019<\/p>\n

So Vins-Clairs<\/a> was born – a portfolio rooted in provenance and principle. \u2018The attachment to the land, the environment, and the protection of it is in my DNA. After years in the trade, setting up a list of likeminded producers felt purely natural.\u2019<\/p>\n

The Making of a Master Sommelier<\/b><\/h3>\n

Thevenot\u2019s professional path took shape in the UK, where she joined Hotel du Vin in Brighton for its opening in October 2002. She became the prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of G\u00e9rard Basset OBE MS MW MBA OIV MSc<\/a>, under whose guidance she was named UK Sommelier of the Year in 2006 – and, at just 27, passed the gruelling Master Sommelier diploma.<\/p>\n

But before even Basset\u2019s stopwatch and blind tastings in a Hampshire head office, there was Tain l\u2019Hermitage. \u2018When I decided to go to sommelier school,\u2019 she recalls, \u2018I only applied to one. At our graduation, Bernard Loiseau said he only hired sommeliers from Tain. That struck a chord. I sent an application – no Plan B – and travelled from Cologne, where I was already working, for the interviews. The head teacher called my mum the next day to say I was in.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"
Claire Thevenot MS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

Loiseau\u2019s kitchen became her crucible. \u2018He was one of the first French chefs on TV – and his personality didn\u2019t change off-camera. Passion, to the fullest.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I was the first female intern sommelier in his team, and under a lot of pressure. After our first service briefing, they sent me back to redo my hair – I wasn\u2019t allowed to serve until my plait was tight enough.\u2019<\/p>\n

At the same time, Thevenot was studying for France\u2019s best sommelier student competition. \u2018The first three weeks were very intense. I came second. After the competition, the head sommelier and restaurant director took me under their wings. Bernard warmed up to me – we\u2019d chat after service. It was a great summer. Hard work, intense and fun. I learnt a lot under them.\u2019<\/p>\n

Then came Basset. \u2018He was more than a mentor. He always had time for his prot\u00e9g\u00e9s – and vice versa. He was the kindest person I ever met. Always helping you unlock a level or pass a hurdle.\u2019<\/p>\n

Thevenot joined him at Hotel du Vin in Brighton, then moved to Winchester as Head Sommelier to support his preparation for the 2004 World Sommelier Competition. \u2018I spent six months with a timer around my neck, crossing the road with trays of blind tastings and creating mock scenarios. In return, he enrolled me in the UK Sommelier competition and the Advanced MS exam.\u2019<\/p>\n

Her path to Master Sommelier was unusually fast. \u2018Gerard gave me three weeks to prepare for the Advanced. I was shocked – I hadn\u2019t studied in depth since school. I asked how I should revise, and he said, \u201cGo home, study 24\/7, don\u2019t eat or sleep, and you\u2019ll be fine.\u201d Classic Gerard. To my surprise, I passed. The next year I sat the Master exam and passed Theory and Service with a heavy cold – I couldn\u2019t smell anything – so I waited and passed Tasting the year after. The whole journey took less than two and a half years.\u2019<\/p>\n

Off the Floor, On Her Terms<\/b><\/h3>\n

After nearly two decades on the restaurant floor, Thevenot stepped into sales. \u2018I joined Enotria<\/a> in 2008. The first few months were difficult – I couldn\u2019t sleep before 1am and wasn\u2019t used to finishing at 6pm. Evenings were long. But I found new hobbies – running, meeting friends who didn\u2019t work weekends. It was a new rhythm.\u2019<\/p>\n

Her importing company, Vins-Clairs, distils her values. \u2018I\u2019d been thinking about it for over a decade. COVID gave me the focus to write the plan. Starting on my own meant I had to streamline a lot – especially buying. The early producers were all French, working biodynamically, with a strong commitment to preserving biodiversity. For 2025, I\u2019ve focused on value wines, but even the House wines follow the same ethos – quality and environmental care at every level.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n

\u2018The best part of this journey so far,\u2019 she adds, \u2018has been the people. The enthusiasm of the producers – their trust – is invigorating. Some I encountered years ago and now call friends.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Many I met for this new adventure. Like Vins-Clairs, a good number of our growers are just starting out, releasing their first or second vintages. They\u2019re learning from the elements, practising regenerative viticulture, and placing biodiversity at the heart of what they do.\u2019<\/p>\n

Ember and Stone: Writing a List for Bath\u2019s Newest Flame<\/b><\/h3>\n

And so, to Emberwood<\/a> – her latest collaboration and, in some sense, a return to the dining room. \u2018The Francis Hotel is in the heart of historic Bath. The name Emberwood really spoke to me – \u201cEmber\u201d for the fire, \u201cWood\u201d for the architect, John Wood the Elder. I\u2019d just taken a guided tour of Bath with my family a few weeks before I was approached. Everything came together.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Francis Hotel, Bath, Somerset, UK<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The list is shaped by two ideas: architecture and nature. \u2018For the architectural side, a British brasserie needs its classics. I linked these to John Wood the Elder – Chablis, Sancerre, Rioja, Margaux, Saint-\u00c9milion, Barolo, and Ch\u00e2teauneuf-du-Pape. Then came the son – John Wood the Younger – a generational shift I mirrored with a fresher Rioja, a more fragrant Ch\u00e2teauneuf, and a new-wave Sancerre.<\/p>\n

And as with great architecture, so with wine – the mavericks matter. \u2018Just as Norman Foster reshaped London\u2019s skyline with the \u201cGherkin\u201d (his firm also worked on Sulis Hospital here in Bath), I\u2019ve included iconoclasts like Bodegas Frontonio in Spain – producers which shift perspectives.\u2019<\/p>\n

Nature, meanwhile, lives in the glass. \u2018Bath is leafy, green, and agricultural. Many of the wines are organic, biodynamic, or natural – but without extremism. The list needs to appeal to both wine geeks and day-trippers. English wines have a whole page. The House Sparkling Brut comes from Hundred Hills in Oxfordshire. The Ros\u00e9 is from Bluestone in Wiltshire – a stone\u2019s throw from Stonehenge, which inspired John Wood.\u2019<\/p>\n

There are also what she calls the \u2018Too Good Not To Be Listed\u2019 bottles – wines which stopped her in her tracks. \u2018A List\u00e1n Blanco from Tenerife. A Sp\u00e4tburgunder from Germany. And some of the stunning wines from the New California.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"
Emberwood restaurant at The Francis Hotel, Bath<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And the food? \u2018I understood the brief straight away – bold flavours, fire-cooked. You need contrast. Lighter, fresher reds, less extraction, not too alcoholic. The food tastings confirmed it all.\u2019<\/p>\n

When asked for the advice which stuck, Thevenot doesn\u2019t hesitate: \u2018Don\u2019t leave anything you can do today for tomorrow.\u2019 And her dream lunch? \u2018My brother, Manu, who left us too early. A c\u00f4te de boeuf on the barbecue, and his favourite – a red Saint-Joseph.\u2019<\/p>\n

Thevenot may no longer work the floor night after night, but the floor, it seems, never really leaves her. \u2018Hospitality was always my first love. I leave space for the next generation to thrive – but I\u2019m always available if they reach out.\u2019<\/p>\n

As they should. Because few wear mastery with such grace – or such fire.<\/p>\n

vins-clairs.com<\/i><\/a><\/span> \/ @vin-clairs<\/a> \/\u00a0<\/i>francishotel.com\/restaurant<\/i><\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n

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In the restrained Georgian grandeur of Bath\u2019s Francis Hotel, a fire has been lit. 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