Heaven for oenophiles
Iwas enthralled no end gazing at unopened bottles of some of my dream wines to taste — Chateau Latour 1936, Chateau Petrus 1961, Domaine de Romanee Conti La Tache 1978, Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1982, and Screaming Eagle Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 1999 — all in one room. These five bottles are worth over P4,000,000 (... yup, not a typo), and are some of the most outstanding wines ever made, not to mention, their rarity given the old vintages. But there is much more as these wines are just five among the over 2,000 wine labels the uberly luxurious Okada Manila Casino Hotel carries in its wine list.
Up until my visit to Okada Manila a few weeks back, I never knew a wine list of this magnitude even existed outside the private cellars of hard core wine collectors. But certainly for the Philippines, and most probably even all of Asia, this would be the wine list to beat.
I remembered some of the best wine lists (prior to my visit to Okada) I had seen in Asian countries I frequently visited, including at Blu ( before it was closed down) of Shangri-La Hotel Singapore, and Restaurant Petrus of the Island Shangri-La, Hong Kong. These two ShangriLa hotel fine-dining restaurants may have better by-the-glass programs, but neither come close to the depth and breadth — including the insane verticals of the most iconic wine brands — of the Okada Manila Casino Hotel wine list.
Up until my visit to Okada Manila, I never knew a wine list of this magnitude even existed outside the private cellars of hard core wine collectors.
EXCLUSIVE WINES FROM THE OKADA FAMILY
I met with the very affable Damien Planchenault, the new Okada Manila senior wine manager, and formerly a regular fixture in another nearby casino hotel, to talk about the Okada Manila wine list. Damien, an elite French oenophile himself, had also never seen so much Grand Cru Classe Medoc, Premier Grand Cru SaintEmilion, Domaine de Romanee Conti and Petrus vintages in one place — and now he is proudly the head of serving these wines to the most discerning, or perhaps the more pompous, customers of the Okada Manila.
Instead of a thick Bible-like wine book, the wine list is presented in an iPad for added convenience. On the iPad, guests can browse through two wine sections: the casual wine list, and the collector’s wine list. From the names alone, it is obvious that mere mortals with a budget ceiling ( like most of us) will be looking at the casual wine list, and choosing from an extensive list of over a few hundred labels. But for those who can afford it, or who just won a jackpot in the casino, the collector’s list deserves a very serious look.
The iPad wine list is extremely friendly to use. A wine’s name can be typed into the internal search engine, and the wine, its label, the available vintages and the price will pop out. Wines can also be selected by country and by region. And, of course, Damien and his two Filipino sommeliers, Marmi Navarro and Jose Carlos Tongco ( both coming from other hotels too), are more than happy to also offer their assistance.
However, if you are like me and want to see and touch the wines physically before ordering, and the wine you are interested in is from the collector’s list, then one of the sommeliers will take you to the collector’s room — this is the room right after the reception area of the La Piazza fine-dining Italian restaurant. From this room, the chosen wine will be taken out of a locked wine cabinet for your viewing and buying pleasure.
Of the over 2,000 wine labels, around 80% come from the Okada family private collection — many of which are rare finds and are therefore only available in this hotel. The 80% are all fine wines and worth a staggering P110 million. Aside from the five wines I singled out at the beginning of this column, the collection also includes multiple vintages of all the five first Growths from the 1855 Bordeaux classification: Chateau Lafite, Chateau Margaux, Chateau Haut-Brion, Chateau Mouton-Rothschild (since 1973), and Chateau Latour, and also all the four Premier Grand Cru Classe A from the latest Saint-Emilion classification of 2012: Chateau Cheval-Blanc, Chateau Ausone, Chateau Angelus, and Chateau Pavie.
Aside from Bordeaux, the list also has amazing range of Burgundy, Rhone, and Champagne. Outside of France, some of the biggest names from Italy, Spain, and Napa California are also well represented.