YI B AI, (or is that “1&2”?) hosted a master class on Bordeaux yesterday, with guest speakers, Veronica Sanders and Alexander Van Beer, a true Bordeaux couple with profound ties to Bordeaux’s complex traditions.

We rarely have so much fun at a Bordeaux tasting, and the fun began with the light-hearted couple and multiplied through the light-hearted irony of translator Aaron Chuang. Sometimes I feel a little sorry for the guest speakers who don’t get the jokes in Chinese. But then we must also feel sorry for the guest participants who don’t get the jokes in English. It began when M. Van Beer put up a chart of ALL the domaine names in Pessac Leognan,which earned slight chuckle from the crowd, but we all laughed with relief when Aaron, in Mandarin, explained it as a “Bordeaux Nightmare”.

I enjoyed very much the first wine, the amuse bouche if you like, a white wine quite unlike the austere Gravestines of memory. This one, dominated by Sauvignon Blanc was bright and aromatic with the usual guava and passion fruit, but also with something luscious and melony that I can’t quite name, another dimension of complexity, perhaps from the semillon. On the palate it delivered plenty of fresh acidity, and indeed Alex declared that freshness was the overarching theme of all his wines, especially the “little mermaid” La Petite Sirene de Giscours.

In case we were wondering why someone so obviously Dutch should be making wine and representing wine from Bordeaux, M. Van Beek reminded us that it was the Dutch who first drained the swamps of The Medic to make them viable for viticulture. “We’re back” he declared emphatically, and so it continued. We tasted through recent vintages of their other labels. Among the reds I especially enjoyed the Chateau du Tertre for its pepper finish. How rare to drink a Margaux with 20% Cabernet Franc grown on a classic hill of gravel normally reserved for Cabernet Sauvignon. Thanks to Orson and Zeen for inviting us to this most entertaining and enlightening tasting.