Jérôme Aké Béda – Profession, sommelier

And, above all, to an all-consuming passion that this native of Côte d’Ivoire, who arrived in Switzerland in the 1990s to perfect his hotel and restaurant skills, was not predestined for.

This passion was passed on to him first by working as a Chef de rang, then as a Maître d’hôtel with such renowned chefs on the Vaud Riviera as Philippe Corsaletti, Denis Martin, Etienne Krebs and Thierry Bonfante, to name but a few. With these chefs, I learned rigor and a love of good wine, which naturally enhances their excellent dishes,” recalls Jérôme Aké Béda. From then on, I rubbed shoulders with many passionate sommeliers and drew my inspiration from the love they had for their profession.

Meeting Paolo Basso from Ticino, now the world’s best sommelier, in 1997 was decisive.
“On stage, at the Ruinart competition for the best sommeliers at Château Gütsch in Lucerne, he impressed me so much that I said to myself, in my heart of hearts, that I would do like this young man.”

In 2003, as fate would have it, Jérôme Aké Béda was called upon to replace the sommelier at the Mirador Kempinski, where he then held the position of Maître d’hôtel. That same year – and two years later – he qualified as one of the top three sommeliers in French-speaking Switzerland. “This success definitively sealed my love for the beautiful profession of sommellerie. Over the years, Jérôme Aké Béda has become a central figure at the Auberge de l’Onde, practicing his craft with an ever-renewed curiosity. “My knowledge grows day by day as I meet winemakers, exchange ideas with other sommeliers as well as wine enthusiasts; I also travel to estates to understand how wine is made at the winemaker’s.”

He learns from these encounters to better pass on his knowledge. “The good sommelier is the one who knows how to transpose the customer’s motivation by transforming his anxieties into pleasure. To succeed, the sommelier has to listen to his customers, while knowing how to decipher their requests. He or she must be curious, but refrain from practicing “bachic fundamentalism”. They must be affable, but not pretentious.

These are all qualities cultivated by Jérôme Aké Béda, whom wine lovers appreciate for his humility, his advice and the meticulous selection of wines in the Auberge de l’Onde cellar.

Emmanuel Charpin/ Clos Tsamphéro

OENOLOGY VS HORLOGY by Jérôme Aké Béda

Time “What immediately comes to mind is the weather, which remains a determining factor in the success of a great wine, but also the time it takes to achieve the goals the winemaker has set for himself. Time then becomes patience. In both cases, time is precious.

Precision and rigor “It makes me think of determination and self-sacrifice, two important factors for the winemaker in achieving his mission: to make a great wine. And here, rigor becomes the most essential factor, and the finished product – the wine – will highlight the precision of his work.”

Creativity “I’m thinking of assemblages, which, in every field, are the art of bringing together bodies or materials destined to fuse harmoniously. In watchmaking, for example, we assemble metal and precious stones to create something unique. In wine, for example, we blend different grape varieties (Cabernet, Merlot, Verdot…) to create a unique wine”.

Top 3 must-have grape varieties

1 ” Chasselas for its timeless character, for its ubiquitous ability to accompany all types of food, and for its capacity to make people happy after so-called ‘great wines’.”
2 ” Pinot noir for its felinity and digestibility.
3 ” Chardonnay when it is well vinified and comes from a great terroir.”

Régis Colombo / diapo.ch