MEET THE SOMM | Lucy Meza Ortega 

With Belgian-Mexican and English-French heritage, and having worked in Kyoto, Santiago and London, Lucy Meza Ortega's cosmopolitan background suits the international mix at our Verbier Club perfectly. As does her immersion in the Swiss wine scene…

I grew up in Brussels in a very typical Belgian household with plenty of beer and not much wine. My dad is half Belgian, half Mexican, and my mum is half French, half English. My first experience of wine was when I started working in bars and restaurants to help pay for my Engineering Management degree at Brussels University. That’s where I found my love for service. I was also really interested in alcohol – the chemical part, the geological part, the historical side, the cultural side. I remember writing this in my application to do a Bachelor's in Business Administration at Les Roches Hospitality Management School in Valais, and my mum told me, ‘No, you can’t put that – you sound like an alcoholic.’

Anyhow, after graduating in Brussels, I’d had enough of being constantly sat in classrooms, and wanted something a bit more practical. And my family had been coming to Valais to ski a couple times a year – in Verbier, as it happens – so I knew the area. For the first two and a half years of the course, I was working a lot in restaurants, either in the kitchen or on service. That’s where I tasted the first wine that really piqued my interest – a Petite Arvine from Domaine de Beudon, in Fully. From there, I started tasting more and more, trying to learn about different varieties and regions. 

During my Bachelor's we did two internships. My first was at the Ritz Carlton in Kyoto, where I really wanted to work in one of the traditional Japanese restaurants. Unfortunately, because I was European, I was placed in the Italian restaurant. Even though I have nothing Italian about me, to them, I was authentic! The second internship was in Santiago in Chile, which was a bit more interesting from a wine perspective. On a Friday evening, me and my colleagues would take the overnight bus to Mendoza, sleep as much as we could, and then visit vineyards all weekend. I loved it. 

I specialised in finance in my last year because I also really like numbers, and I thought I would go on to do a Master's in Finance. But then I came across a management programme at Red Carnation Hotels, which has about 15 hotels around Europe and South Africa, an opportunity that really appealed. I got the job, did a year in Geneva, and then moved to the Rubens at the Palace Hotel in London in 2018. 

When lockdown hit in 2020, I was transferred to our sister hotel, Summer Lodge in Dorset, working with the Head Sommelier, Eric Zwiebel MS. I asked him if he could help me learn a bit more about wine, and he said, ‘OK, well, there's two things we can do. Either you can ask me a few questions as we go along, and I can answer them. Or I give you my study materials, and we can sit down every day before the shift, and really work on it.’ We were in this teeny-tiny village in the middle of nowhere, in semi-lockdown – what else was I going to do? But from Eric’s perspective, he was doing it in his own time, purely out of a love of wine and wanting to share that. He knew my partner was in London, so I wasn't going to be staying at the property long-term. But he saw my passion and he wanted to develop it. I’ll never forget that. 

The last thing he told me before I left was that I had more interest in wine than most people he knew who actually worked in wine, so it might be worth looking for a position in the industry. I stumbled upon an ad for role at 67, applied, interviewed with Ronan, and joined as Junior Sommelier. I remember doing my first shift with Fede [Federico Moccia, now Head of Wine Operations, London] who was Assistant Head Sommelier at the time, and he showed me around. Then we closed again due to the pandemic, and I did a couple of things for 67 Pall Mall TV and the virtual tastings, and rejoined the floor when we opened again. There was a lot of upheaval, so when Verbier was announced in autumn 2021, I jumped at the chance. I remember waiting for Grant [Asthon, CEO and Founder] to walk by in the Club, and then I was like, ‘Hi Grant, did you know I love Swiss wines, and I love Verbier?’ They hadn't really seen me in a managerial role prior to that, so I joined as a Senior Sommelier for the opening in December, and then within a couple of months I was promoted to Head Somm.

My partner stayed in London for the first winter season, and during the summer we went back and forth before we said to ourselves, ‘What are we doing? Summer in Verbier is amazing.’ And of course winter here is amazing too. We moved permanently in November 2022 – my partner is also in hospitality, so he worked for a while at the ice rink to get his visa, then got a job at the W Hotel. 

I love it here. And I love bringing that wine-centric ethos into the resort, be it by growing the list [now the biggest in the region], by inviting winemakers to come to the Club and host events, or by showcasing the local wines of the Valais and Switzerland in general. I feel very at home here – I’ve been on the slopes since I was a kid – skiing at first, and then when I finished ski school at 10, I started snowboarding. Now I do a bit of both – although with a two-year-old and an eight-month old, it’s a bit more complicated these days…