Livestream Video: Interview With Sommeliers in Belgian Star Restaurants

by Kristel · December 5, 2020

Last month I hosted another livestream in our Dutch-spoken Facebook group Wijn Wijn Wijn. This time I interviewed three top sommeliers from Michelin-star restaurants here in Flanders.

We talked about their life as a sommelier, their favourite food and wine pairings, up-and-coming wine regions, how they compose their wine menus, the impact of COVID-19 on their job, and much more.

For the first edition in this series, we focussed on sommeliers working in various Michelin-star restaurants in the provinces of West and East Flanders. Our fabulous guests were:

Charlotte Crul, Cuines33* in Knokke-Heist. Sommelier and part-time wine merchant, who runs the wine shop Puro Wijnen with her husband Niels. Charlotte is one of the finalists in this year’s ‘Best Sommelier of Belgium’ competition, and therefore has a chance to become the first woman to win the coveted title.
Tom Ieven, Hof van Cleve*** in Kruishoutem. Best Sommelier of Belgium in 2018, Sommelier of the Year 2020, and just a few weeks ago he became Gault&Millau’s Sommelier of the Year 2021.
Vincent Willekens, Hostellerie Le Fox** in De Panne. Vincent is a legend here in Flanders, having one of the longest uninterrupted careers at the same Michelin-star restaurant. He’s been working as sommelier and maître d’hôtel at Le Fox since 1992, and therefore brings not only his warm personality and unique insights to this panel, but also a wealth of knowledge and experience.

You can watch the recorded video of our talk below. (Once again, it is in Dutch – read: different regional versions of Flemish.) Enjoy! 🙂