They say that your first stop in a trade fair sets the tone for the rest of your visit. It was by chance that I found myself sitting down with the representative from Patriache, one of Burgundy’s oldest houses (negotiant), based in the historical town of Beaune. Here I was 10:30 in the morning, chatting with a Frenchman with an American sense of humor, putting up with my typically-blunt-Chinese-style interrogation. Patriache, to me, is the quintessential style of Burgundian wine, not necessarily in terms of taste and style although I was told that the “house” style does lean towards classical, but in terms the business model. There is no desire her to develop domain labels. They are ensconced in the delicate winemaker-grower trade relationship, which I still can’t fathom how peace can be sustained over the long haul.

Tasting the wine confirmed my suspicion that I have been wrong about one thing about Burgundy all this time. My uneducated lack of respect for the generic Bourgogne Chardonnay is totally uncalled for. Unfazed by a bulk-wine stigma the Bourgogne Chardonnay is in many instances, a venerable Burgundy Blanc, but we have to first rise above label. And it certainly helps to realize that at this level, the quality of the vintage means everything.

The meeting culminated in a glass of 2012 Meursault Les Charmes. Like so many vintages in Burgundy (and many other regions also) 2012 is good for white, a bit too cool for reds. I had to take one last stab at my host before I exit ungracefully. “In your neck of the woods there’s never a perfect year for both reds and white, is there?” I asked, semi-rhetorically. But I was wrong, again. He told me there were two such vintages in recent memory, namely 2009 and 2005. He tried to slip in 2002 but he quickly decided not to push it.

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Yats Wine Cellars
Manila Sales Office
3003C East Tower, Philippines Stock Exchange Center,
Exchange Road, Ortigas Center, Pasig,
Metro Manila, Philippines 1605
Tel: (632) 637-5019 0917-520-4393

Yats Wine Cellars is one of the wine suppliers that devote a great deal of attention and effort to wine education aimed at enabling wine lovers to enhance their knowledge of wine as well as to develop a discerning palate for fine wines. To that end this leading wine supplier in Philippines frequently hold public wine events that are not sponsored by wine producers and not intended to promote a certain brand.