Pernille Malec: The Sommelier Who Brings Soul to Michelin Service
Pernille Malec at The Samuel. Photo Ronja Bo Gustavsson
From Lolland to the polished floors of a Michelin-starred restaurant, this is Pernille Malec’s story. With nearly two decades in hospitality, she has had setbacks, cultivated stregth, and never stopped learning. This is the story of a woman who opens more than wine, she opens windows into what hospitality looks like.
Pernille Malec at The Samuel. Photo Ronja Bo Gustavsson
On a sunny spring day, I visited Pernille Malec at The Samuel, a Michelin-starred restaurant in a historic villa in Hellerup. Pernille greeted me warmly and without any fuss. She is candid, tough yet close to the heart, and generous with her stories. As we settled into our seats by the bar, and the afternoon sunlight shining through the windows, she began telling me about her carrier in hospitality and wine.
A Childhood Dream
“Ever since I was five or six years old, I’ve wanted to be a waitress,” she said. “It might sound strange, but it’s always been my dream.” Growing up in Lolland, she recalled how she would cook for their family—fries, scrambled eggs, whatever they could come up with. “I’d serve my parents and try to charge them. They never paid me, of course, but I loved it.”
Her professional journey began in 2007, when she started as an apprentice at a local restaurant under the guidance of Johanne, who was Pernilles teacher. “She was the host with the mostess,” Pernille said. “Kind, generous, full of energy. I wanted to match her or do better.”
“Once you get the title, people expect you to know everything. That was terrifying.”
Sponsored content from Hans Just
Peyrassol’s wines are distributed by Hans Just, ensuring that these exceptional wines reach wine enthusiasts in Denmark.
The Mentor
Johanne became her mentor and role model. “She taught me everything. How to clean properly, how to polish, how to read the room. If we had no guests, I was scrubbing windows or organizing cutlery. She taught me that hospitality isn’t about performance; it’s about consistency and care.”
One of her earliest memories is of Johanne going into labor during service. “It was a huge 25th wedding anniversary celebration. I worked the whole thing—breakfast, lunch, dinner. I got home at four in the morning and was back three hours later. I didn’t have a license, so my parents drove me every day, or I needed to bike 13 kilometers through open fields. But I loved it.”
The Samuel. Photo Ronja Bo Gustavsson
“Christian changed the wine pairings constantly—you had to be on your toes. ”
A Move to the City
In 2010, Pernille moved to Copenhagen. Her first job was at Divan2 in Tivoli Gardens. “They had some amazing wines like Paolo Scavino and Leflaive. At the time I didn’t understand what I was serving. I was just 21.”
From the archives. Photo: Pernille Malec
Finding Her Place in Fine Dining
Coming from the tight-knit, family-feel environment of Lolland, the hierarchy in Copenhagen surprised her. “In Lolland, I helped in the kitchen, served tables, cleaned floors. In Copenhagen it was different, everyone had their role.
Later she started at The Paul. “I didn’t know what Michelin meant. I sent in a resume and hoped to learn something. Paul Cunningham asked, ‘What do you know about Michelin?’ and I said, ‘Absolutely nothing.’ He hired me anyway.”
Pernille's was shaped in part by her background as a competitive swimmer. “I swam for hours a day. It's lonely, but you learn all four swimming strokes, how to push yourself, how to adapt. I dislocated my shoulder at sixteen. I couldn't swim for six months. I thought everything was over. But I found a way forward. I couldn't use my left arm, but I could carry plates with my right. I just kept going.”
Pernille Malec at The Samuel. Photo Ronja Bo Gustavsson
Hard Times
While working on the West Coast in Henne, she faced a heavy workload but still made space for personal development. “It was full-on. Breakfast, lunch, coffee, gin and tonics, dinner service nonstop,” she said. “But I knew I needed to keep learning, so I started studying for the Court of Master Sommeliers. It helped me stay focused and motivated.”
About ten years ago, while working in Henne under intense conditions, Pernille hit a breaking point. “We were understaffed and just worked A LOT, to be honest,” she recalled. “I remember my doctor asking, ‘Do you want to go on sick leave?’ And I said, ‘No! We’re too busy.’
“ Jonathan and Rasmus love the French classics. I’m like, ‘Let’s try this Australian bottle?’ Over time, they’ve opened up.”
Pernille Malec at The Samuel. Photo Ronja Bo Gustavsson
Despite the chaos, she still pushed herself until her body gave out. “I twisted my knee and had to get surgery. That accident gave me a chance to stop, even if it came in a very painful way.”
What followed was a process of recovery mental, emotional, and physical. “I started going back to the gym. That became my way to let go of frustration and rebuild myself. The mental part was hard, but I learned to set boundaries, to say no, to not always take on everything.”
Stepping into Wine
Pernille ended up at AOC with Christian Aarø and Julie Færch, who deeply influenced her wine education. “Christian changed the wine pairings constantly—you had to be on your toes. Julie brought heart and structure. They both taught me so much.”
In 2013, while working at AOC, she passed the test for becoming a member of Dansk Sommelier Forening. “I didn’t think I’d pass. I took it just to see what I didn’t know. The first task was to recommend wine for pigeon and lamb. I wrote everything I knew: temperature, decanting, food pairing, glassware. I poured my heart onto that one page.”
She remembered the blind tasting where she correctly identified a South African straw wine. “I didn’t love it, but I remembered the details—grapes, process, aromas. When Christian told me I passed, I was shocked. I said, ‘No! I can’t be a sommelier—I’m not ready!’ But he handed me the junior pin and said, ‘You’ve earned it.’”
The weight of that pin was emotional. “Once you get the title, people expect you to know everything. That was terrifying.
Pernille Malec at The Samuel. Photo Ronja Bo Gustavsson
The fight over the corkscrew
One of the wildest moments in her career happened at Vienna airport. “I had just failed my Certified exam and was flying home. They stopped me at security. I had a brand-new Laguiole corkscrew, a gift to myself. They said, ‘This is a weapon.’ I lost it. I ranted in German. I called my uncle who works in law enforcement. I said, ‘I’m about to serve the Queen of Denmark and you think I’m a threat with a corkscrew?!’”
They confiscated it anyway.
“That corkscrew meant everything to me. A sommelier’s corkscrew is like a chef’s knife or a musician’s bow. It becomes part of your hand. I opened so many bottles with my old one it literally fell apart mid-service at Henne. The new one was a replacement. And now it was gone.”
She contacted lost and found. Paid almost $100 in shipping to get it back. “When it arrived, It wasn’t about the money. It was about having a piece of myself returned.”
The Samuel
Today, Pernille is the heartbeat of The Samuel. “I’m the mom of the restaurant. The only woman here. I do everything—manager, sommelier, cleaner, barista. I even order the cleaning supplies.”
The wine list has grown from 40 wines to nearly 800. “We’ve got 34 vintages of Mouton Rothschild and a Dom Pérignon collection. But we also have wines from Mallorca, Austria and Australia. Wines with stories.”
She tries to bring balance to the selection. “Jonathan and Rasmus love the French classics. I’m like, ‘Let’s try this Australian bottle?’ Over time, they’ve opened up.”
Pernille Malec at The Samuel. Photo Ronja Bo Gustavsson
Evolving Guests
She sees a shift in guests, too. “They ask more questions: Is this organic? How much sulfur? Is it biodynamic? They want transparency. Some have long lists of things they won’t drink no malolactic, no oak, no added sulfites. It’s a challenge, but also a good one.”
Pernille has become someone others look up to. She supports her team, one is doing WSET Diploma in London, another attends the Dansk Sommelier Uddannelse in Copenhagen. “We even sent one of our members of staf to a communication course to help with service and guest interactions. "I want them to be better, greater, and hungry for more the day they decide to leave The Samuel."
As we wrapped up, she reflected on her 20-year journey. “Time flies. I still feel 22 most days. Except when I’m really tired then I feel 90,” she laughed.
What stays constant, for her, is the magic of the job. “It’s hard. It’s emotional. But it’s beautiful.
