We visited Hervé Le Tellier, 67, at his home in the Drôme, in Montjoux, not far from Dieulefit, which he mentions at the beginning of his latest story. The name on the wall (Gallimard, 176 pages, 19.80 euros), published in spring. The novelist’s life changed with The anomaly (Gallimard, 2020), translated into 46 languages and sold 1.5 million copies, making it the best-selling Goncourt Prize in history, behind the loverby Marguerite Duras (Editions de Minuit, 1984). Le Tellier is the author of around thirty books and numerous short stories, often humorous in tone, in which wines and alcohols are frequently mentioned.
One of your first books, “Bar Sonatas” (Seghers, 1991), which you published when you were 34, is a collection of 86 short stories, each of which offers a cocktail recipe. In the room where we meet, in your house in Drôme, there is a magnificent bar surrounded by an impressive number of bottles of alcohol. So you really like cocktails. Which one do you prefer?
I was a bartender in San Francisco in the late 1970s, working nights at a gay bar. I was the “straight French bartender.” I learned how to make all the cocktails there, and that resulted in this book. And then I gave myself this huge wooden bar.
To answer your question, I’m more of a Manhattan guy. [whisky ou bourbon, vermouth et bitter]But really, it all depends on the alcohol level you expect when trying a cocktail. If I want to drink really strong right away, I go for a Black Russian. [vodka et liqueur de café – à noter la variante, mentionnée dans Sonates de bar, du black italian, grappa et liqueur de café]If you want to drink it slowly, it will be a Manhattan. If you want to take it easy, you have a mojito. [rhum, eau gazeuse, citron vert, sucre et feuilles de menthe].
I still make cocktails, but I never drink beyond the state I want to achieve, which is a soda I adopted when I was a bartender. Also, a doctor friend saw my bar and said to me: “We see that you are not an alcoholic because alcoholics never have that many full bottles.”
So, are you more of an alcohol or wine lover?
More like wine. Because the cocktail belongs especially to the evening, at the end or at the beginning. A full meal of mojito is complicated. Wine is more subtle. The wine par excellence, for me, is Saint-Julien. And if we had to choose one that was not too expensive, i.e. not a Saint-Julien, it would be a Haut-Médoc that you can find for less than 10 euros. I would like to take this opportunity to say that I do not understand the current discontent towards Burgundy.
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