Benjamin BONANO

Sommelier : 1 restaurant Benjamin Bonano, sommelier at the restaurant La Mécanique des Frères Bonano alongside his brother Clément, stands out for his approach to food and wine pairing and his passion for the world of wine.

Presentation

Son of an innkeeper, Benjamin Bonano is a child of the ball. "My first contact with the world of wine was when I was a kid, when winemakers came to eat at my parents' inn. "

His vocation was thus born very early, and he took his first steps right after hotel school, working for Jacques and Laurent Pourcel in Montpellier, while his brother, in the kitchen, was already in the business. Benjamin Bonano stayed there for a year, making enough of a name for himself to quickly move on to the Ritz for a year and a half, then Jean-André Charial brought him to L'Oustau de Baumanière, then to La Cabro d'Or, where he had his first job as head sommelier .

A rewarding international career

As chance would have it, "I was about to leave for Boulud in New York when some executives from the Four Seasons Hong Kong came by the restaurant and noticed me. The discussion lasted fifteen minutes at the bar before I made the decision, which suited me because I wanted to have another approach and perfect my English. "

The realization of a shared dream

His mother's health problems brought him back to France. He joined his brother at the family inn for two years, during which time the project matured. "We said to ourselves: 'We've been working hard for ten years, trying to earn a bit of money so that one day we can have our own place. It took a little longer, but we succeeded. We were working on a project in Lamalou, but when we saw this place in Colombières, we immediately said it was for us. We hesitated for 24 hours before signing! "