Toast to a 500-year-old tradition

YOU don’t need a fancy degree to acquire a taste for fine wine (Exhibit A is ousted President Estrada). Nor is knowing the wine’s origin and vintage essential to your enjoyment.

"As long as the taste appeals to you, you don’t have to know where the wine came from and what year it was made," said Corinne Mentzelopoulos. "You don’t have to feel intimidated by it."

Mentzelopoulos, one of the owners of the famed Chateau Margaux in Bordeaux, France, recently visited Manila upon the invitation of local wine distributors Alex and Clifford Lichaytoo of Bacchus International.

"I wasn’t into wines myself," she confessed. "I didn’t have a clue back then, but somehow Bordeaux has grown on me. The more you age, the more you learn new things."

Thanks to her Greek father, Andre, the chateau was saved from near ruin in the aftermath of an industry-wide crisis back in the 1970s. He bought the property from the Ginestet family, Chateau Margaux’s original owners almost three decades ago. The daughter took over its reins soon after the father passed away several years later.

Corinne has been credited for steering the centuries-old chateau back to its lofty position, notwithstanding the many competitors within and outside the region. Not bad for a humanities graduate with a master’s degree in economics.

Under her stewardship, Chateau Margaux has produced some of the best vintage wines during the last decade. In fact, wine critic James Suckling hailed the 2000 vintage as one of the best entries in the Premier Gran Cu Classe, the Oscars of fine wines.

And what sets Bordeaux wines apart from those sourced from Napa Valley, Chile and Australia? A 500-year-old tradition, she says, which is lacking among winemakers from the New World.

Despite her success, Mentzelopoulos is the first to dismiss her achievements.

After all, a definitive guide on winemaking has yet to be written, if at all. Aside from a dedicated team, she credits the chateaux’s success to luck, pure and simple. Of course, instinct and right timing have plenty to do with it, too.

"The process is almost the same year after year," she said. "It’s still nerve-wracking because when you’re out there it’s never the same. If a disaster occurs, we might not even make a vintage."

Quality output

There are plenty of external factors to contend with in growing grapes. Because of the frost, for instance, everyone thought 1991 would be a bad year. On the contrary, it turned out to be a good one. Then there was last year’s vintage critics have been raving about.

"Last year’s grapes were almost ruined by the rains," she shared. "It’s wise and reassuring to gather them inside as soon as possible. At the same time, however, you want them to fully ripen so you wait. Sometimes, until it’s too late."

Even if she wants to, Mentzelopoulos is unable to dramatically increase the chateau’s output. Quantity like quality greatly depends on the yield. "We have no way of forecasting demand" she said. "Our wine is not a brand. The quality [of the wines] is bound to suffer the day we start buying more hectares."

Bacchus distributes Chateau Margaux wines made during the early 1980s and 1990s. The oldest vintage available locally dates back to 1982, says Alex Lichaytoo.

Despite the lingering economic slump, Japan remains the biggest market for French wines in Asia. In fact, says Mentzelopoulos, Japan used to buy wines in "futures," or before they were even blended. Demand has lately shifted to older wines. "We don’t have the exact percentages," she says. "The Bordeaux wine merchants deal directly with them [buyers]."

The Philippines is one of the youngest wine markets in the region. "Perhaps we import only two percent of what Hong Kong gets," says Lichaytoo. He based his estimate on the number of Hong Kong importers (100) vis-à-vis their Filipino counterparts (25).

Still, demand has grown from 15-25 percent every year during the past five years.

"We’re a happy people who love to celebrate and enjoy life," he adds. "So there’s a big potential as far as demand for wine is concerned."

He may be right about the demand. Faced with a tense political standoff, every Filipino--be he educated or unlettered, rich or poor, pro or anti, deposed or incumbent--could surely use a glass of wine right now.