High up in the Taipei Marriott Hotel, Oriental House, one of Taiwan’s most venerable and respected wine importers, presented Ludivine Griveau, head winemaker of Hospices de Beaune, in a joint presentation with Albéric Bichot, owner of Domaines Albert Bichot in Beaune. It was all part of a massive series of events organized by Yusen Lin and Ingrid Lin to celebrate this year’s La Paulée, the traditional spring party held every year in Burgundy.

It was a master class, and especially interesting for anyone who might be thinking about buying these extraordinary wines from Hospices de Beaune. We learned, for example, that the Hospices de Beaune owns 60 hectares of vineyards and is a non-profit organization that owns hospitals and hospice care facilities. The hospices and hospital are supported by the winery at which Ms Griveau is the head winemaker. The winery gets its grapes from vineyards donated over the generations by grateful clients, beginning long before land prices reached the astonishing heights they have now so famously reached.

Each year in November the Hospices de Beaune holds a grand auction to sell off its more than 700 barrels of premium wine, and M Bichot represents clients who bid successfully each year for more than 100 of those barrels, which makes his company the largest bidder by quite a margin. Each year Sunny Wang takes a select group of Oriental House clients to the auction, where they watch as Albéric and his team bid on the lots they have chosen. Every bidder must be represented by a legitimate ‘ager’ which can guarantee to preserve the quality of the wine until it is in the bottle. Labels may carry the name of the bidder or the name of an event — a wedding for perhaps or a graduation — but otherwise the appearance and information on the bottle is strictly controlled to protect Hospices de Beaune brand.

After the barrels of wine are bought (they are all made of new French Oak), they go to Domaines Bichot for aging. This process already introduces new complexity. For example, purchasers aiming for a purer expression of fruit may opt for at least some further aging in older oak vessels. Many other decisions influence the final character of the wines, and thus they are all unique.

It is a huge adventure, and you don’t need to buy a whole barrel. Even buyers of 6 bottles (plenty for me) are welcome, and you don’t have to go to the auction. M Bichot and his team will be happy to represent you, and Sunny Wang and her team will be happy to transport the wine in best conditions and even store it for you until you’re ready to drink it.

In our tasting we worked though six wines, not all the current vintage 2014 beginning with a Crémant de Bourgogne Blanc de Blancs PURE, and ending with a 2010 Mazis-Chembertin Grand Cru, Cuvée Madeleine Collignon Rouge Hospices de Beaune. The 2009 expression of this wine won BEST RED WINE IN EUROPE at the Decanter Wine Awards a few years ago, which is a mighty accomplishment, though Yusen commented in Chinese that it was probably the only Grand Cru Burgundy at the event. They had to send six bottles, and at the prices these wines fetch its not surprising that none of the other houses would have invested so much with so little chance of winning against thousands of other wines.

What a lunch too, at the Marriott. How will I ever live again as a normal human being?