The world’s best wines can be found in a Filipino-owned vineyard

In Southwest France, there’s a Filipino-owned vineyard which carries some of the world’s best wines. With a Philippine banner hoisted outside, this estate has been visited by the likes of former President Gloria Arroyo, former Cabinet member Vince Perez and banker Aurelio Montinola III.

CHATEAU Siran’s front
door welcomes guests.

Located in the wine epicenter of the Bordeaux region, Chateau Siran is run by winemaker and businessman Edouard Miailhe (pronounced mee-EYE). For several generations, the Miailhes ran a trading company in Manila. Today, the younger Miailhe shuttles between the Philippines and France to look after the family business.

“My father traded less in the Philippines but he kept our real estates in Binondo, Escolta and Santa Ana that were left over from the 19th century,” he says.

A fifth-generation vine grower, Miailhe took over Chateau Siran, which was acquired by his family in 1859. Chateau Siran lies in the town of Labarde in the Margaux Appellation. To the wine uninitiated, he explains, “An appellation is a piece of land which answers to certain characteristics in soil, climate and type of grapes,” says Miailhe. In the Margaux Appellation, the soil is embedded with silica and white gravels from the mountains transported from the river. The wines from this region are known for their delicate flavors.

The 88-hectare estate includes 36 hectares of vineyards which are open to the public. Visitors come to sample and buy the Margaux wines.

THE PHILIPPINE flag flutters
outside the gates.

“When you walk around, you see the various grapes; the ages of the vines; the way we plant, grow and prune; the canopy management on how to manage the leaves and the grapes. What you see will depend on the season of your visit. The growing season is from April to October. From November to April, we prune the vines. In April, the buds start to come out,” he says.

The vineyard cultivates the grape varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc.

Main products

Petit-Verdot, a variety of red wine grapes, adds color and spices up the wines. Its main products are Chateau Siran which is famous for its “perfect balance of tannins, fruit and sharpness”; S de Siran, the second wine, which is noted for its roundness; and the sweet Saint-Jacques de Siran.

CHATEAU reception hall can
be booked for special events.

The chateau’s wines are locally found in Premium Wine Exchange, Wine Story, Terry’s and Santi’s.

As Vice Maître (second master) of La Commanderie de Bordeaux Manila, Miailhe invites Filipino friends over to his chateau and entertains them.

Chateau Siran offers a modern cellar, a tasting room and a large hall, both of which can be rented out for special events. To get a sweeping view of the estate, there is a terrace that overlooks the vineyards. The nuclear bunker is host to the vintages, the oldest of which dates to 1870.

Preselling event

Unique to Bordeaux is the Future Sales which runs from April 15 to June 15, before the Vinexpo or wine exposition. It is the ultimate preselling event for wines before they are bottled. The wines are priced according to what the market is willing to dole out.

THE WINE cellar has been
renovated and is open for tours.

“When you are part of the 150 most famous brands in the world, you sell your wines in the future. You sell even if they are still in the barrels for aging. If the grapes have been harvested in October 2012, they are stored in the barrel in January 2013 for 12 months. By January 2014, I remove them, put the wines in the tank, clarify them and bottle them. The wines are sold through the wine selling system, the Bordeaux Negociants,” explains Miailhe. Negociants is a group of wholesalers who contract to buy an allotment of an estate’s harvest every year.

In April, the world’s most prominent wine writers come to Bordeaux to rate the wines. “Depending on the ratings and the market, you release the wine. You will allocate the wines to the different buyers. We have 45 buyers—some take 800 cases, some 10 or 20 cases.  In two days, you release the wines for the same price and same payment conditions. This is what the buyers have to pay for what will be allocated to them. The buyers confirm and pay in six months. The wine is delivered at the end of the year,” explains Miailhe.

Most visitors stay at the charming hotels in Bordeaux City. Still there’s Chalet Siran, a cottage good for six, in the estate. Guests can dine at Miailhe’s restaurant La Gare Gourmande, a former 50-square-meter train depot in the village. Consisting of seven tables, it serves traditional French fare including poultry, magret confit and pork from the Southwest which complement the red wines.

Best-kept secret

“Many customers are winemakers who bring their own wines,” he says. The Trip Advisor described La Gare Gourmande as the best-kept secret in Bordeaux, and gave the meal of cold pasta with salmon, roast quail with vegetables, and a warm apple strude, a thumbs up.

Then there are the tours of the neighboring subregions of Bordeaux. “If you love architecture and wine, Bordeaux (region) is the place,” says Miailhe.  Médoc is famous for the châteaux, some 1,500 vineyards, the ocean, beaches and pine forests filled with animals. Saint Emilion is a World Heritage Site, famous for its Romanesque cathedrals, limestone houses and a viticulture that dates back to the Middle Ages.

Wine tours

Wine lovers will appreciate the wine tours at Sauternes and Pessac, where travelers can learn more about the nuances of Bordeaux wine in the famous chateaux such as Yquem, Rothschild, Gironde and Sancerre.

“Keep one day for the city of Bordeaux. It’s gorgeous. The new mayor cleaned it up, put in the tramway and overhauled the riverbank. It’s the second most preferred city of France. We are proud of what the mayor has achieved. It looks like Disneyland but more real,” says Miailhe.

Bordeaux underwent a beautification program, starting with the removal of soot from its Medieval churches and old buildings and a reclaimed dockland. It has been modernized with galleries, concept stores, restaurants and wine-bars.

Aside from the châteaux, visiting the markets are enough reason to travel to France. The variety of cheeses, terrines, meats and breads astounds travelers. Miailhe cites coffee, foie gras, fresh produce and the famous classified rosé from Medoc as some of the popular things to shop for. “Food is important for the French and people in the Southwest,” says Miailhe.

For tour and tasting, log on to www.chateausiran.com.

Hired! Filipino wins first ‘Apprentice Asia’

Age: 27

Nationality: Filipino

Marital Status: Single

Education: Bachelor in Science in Economics from University

of the Philippines

Occupation: Senior Product Manager

“I am an extremely driven and passionate person. I always set my eyes on the prize, and as people would describe me - what Nate wants, Nate gets.”

Jonathan is a proud pinoy and is not afraid to show it. His belief that ‘Asians are the best’ in the corporate world drives his personal track records. He successfully launched a new pharmaceutical brand, achieving market leadership in terms of volume and sales in just eight months, a world record in the company’s history across 30 countries. Jonathan was also the recipient of the 2012 Mansmith Young Market Masters Award, as one of the top seven marketers in the Philippines under the age of 35.

Filipino Jonathan Allen Yabut became the first-ever winner of the reality TV show “The Apprentice Asia”, topping 11 other contestants in the competition that stakes a job under business mogul Tony Fernandes.

Yabut emerged the winner after edging co-finalist Andrea Lo of Singapore in the contest’s final task, which is to spearhead a black-tie fundraiser for the AirAsia Foundation in Kuala Lumpur. It was aired as the show’s season-ending 11th episode.

Fernandes is the chief executive officer of AirAsia.

In winning the contest, Yabut, an Economics graduate from the University of the Philippines, secured for himself a one-year contract to work for AirAsia. The job reportedly comes with a salary of at least $100,000.

The unsung Filipina who cured HIV

Time Magazine’s 2013 listing of the 100 most influential people in the world included two Filipinos: President Benigno Aquino and Dr. Katherine Luzuriaga, a pediatric immunologist from the University of Massachusetts.

And yet, despite the groundbreaking impact of her work, she remains largely unacknowledged in her own country.

Luzuriaga —whose father is Filipino and who still does, in fact, speak Filipino— was part of an all-woman medical team acknowledged for the first cure of a baby with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the cause of AIDS.

The cured baby was born in Mississippi more than two years ago to a mother who had HIV but was not diagnosed until she had gone into labor.  The mother apparently did not have prenatal care because if she did, she would have been diagnosed early and given three drugs to prevent the fetus from being infected.  

In this case, the child was first given the drugs 30 hours after she was born.  Right before being given the medicines, the baby was tested for HIV, the results of which came back positive.   Within the first month of therapy, tests could no longer find the virus.  However, doctors kept the child on the drugs, standard practice in the United States and developed countries because of the possibility of reservoirs or “hideouts” for the virus that allow it to continue to replicate.

With time though, the mother began to become irregular with her hospital visits for her child.  When the child was brought in for a check-up around the age of two, the mother admitted that the child had missing out on the drugs.   Yet when tests were conducted, the child’s HIV levels still remained undetectable, which means a “functional cure”.

UP, ADMU, DLSU among World’s best in English and Literature

Three of the top universities in the country were included in the list of best schools in the world, excelling in English language and literature, based on a 2013 survey released by a London-based research institution.

The University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University made it to the top 200 schools in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Ranking by Subject 2013.

 

The report showed UP and Ateneo in the top 51-100 schools for English language and literature.

ADMU logo

La Salle was in the top 101-150 for the same subject, while Ateneo was also in the top 151-200 in the global ranking for modern languages.

UP, on the other hand, was in the top 151-200 schools for agriculture and forestry. Its ranking, however, slipped to 348th from 332nd in the previous list.

Ateneo de Manila also slid to the 451-500 bracket from being ranked 360th. De La Salle University dropped to the 601+ bracket from 551-600 bracket.

DLSU logo

The global university ranking by subject was based on assessments of academics and employers of university graduates.

This year, the company rated 2,858 schools but only ranked 678 institutions.

US schools led the rankings in most subjects, with Harvard University topping 10 disciplines.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology topped the list of best universities, ranking first in seven subjects, followed by the University of California-Berkeley, Oxford University and Cambridge.

The Winners: Mutya ng Pilipinas 2013

The 45th edition of Mutya ng Pilipinas highlighted the best of Filipina beauties when it held its coronation night last July 26 at NBC Tent, Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

Koreen Medina was crowned Mutya ng Pilipinas Asia Pacific 2013, while Angeli Dione Gomez of Cebu City took home the Mutya ng Pilipinas Tourism 2013 crown.

Meanwhile, Maureen Montagne of Arizona was declared Mutya ng Pilipinas 2013 1st runner-up; Kristian Aubrey Nolasco, 2nd runner-up and Asdis Karlsdottir of Iceland, Mutya ng Pilipinas Overseas Communities 2013.

Koreen Medina in her red traditional outfit.

Koreen Medina looks very confident on the stage in her two-piece.

Pinay hackers win international honors!

Filipina mobile app developers Rubi Santa Cruz and Michie Ang (center and right), and their Singapore-based teammate, software engineer Dee Tan, bested hundreds of competitors to take home the $30,000 grand prize at AngelHack Singapore, June 2. AngelHack, via Twitter

Meet Filipino who will graduate with honors at US academy

By Rodney Jaleco, ABS-CBN North America News Bureau

COLORADO - Growing up in the fringes of the Dipolog city airport, Theodore Karl Quijano was bitten early by the lure of flight and that has taken him all the way to Colorado, where he graduates next week from the US Air Force Academy.

With the cost of college proving too much of a burden on his family, Quijano decided to apply at the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio City, and later saw the opportunity to fulfill his childhood dream by competing for a slot in the USAFA.

“I grew up right next to the airport,” he revealed. “I saw planes land and take off every day and the sight made me dream to be able to fly those aircraft one day.”

He not only learned to fly, he soared in the Academy, achieving feats that should make Filipinos proud – he was given command of Cadet Squadron 10 last Fall after being assigned as Cadet Wing Chief of Standardization and Evaluation, said to be one of the highest positions in the Academy managing over 4,000 people, during the Summer. A year earlier, he was also made Superintendent of CS-10.

“God, family and country – it was clear to me that I was doing this for them, not for myself,” Quijano said. “I wanted to work for something bigger than myself. This made me stand out in the Academy and drove others to have the same outlook.”

As part of the graduating class of 2013, he marches with honors at Falcon Field next Wednesday. He belongs to the Superintendent’s (overall excellence) and Dean’s (academic excellence) list. Quijano will also receive the Outstanding Basic Cadet Award from the Academy’s Commandant for finishing 1st in the class of 1,300 cadets for military excellence.

In addition he will get his Parachutist Badge, Space Wings (for completing the space operations program that taught him, among others, how to operate satellites), Glider Pilot Wings and the Powered Flight Wings.

Quijano ranked 2nd in athletics for his batch and is the only Filipino cadet (out of 15 who preceded him in the USAFA since 1956) to get a perfect physical fitness score in the Academy’s 500 Club.

The eldest in a brood of seven, he learned early on the challenges of being a leader in the family. “My father inspired me with stories about successful people both in the military and corporate worlds, and how I should work to be just like them when I grew up and help send my siblings to school.”

“But most of all I learned from my parents the value of living with honor, integrity and service to others,” Quijano said.

He spent three years at the University of the Philippines (UP) campus in Diliman, Quezon City but the expenses were taking a toll on the family finances, Quijano explained, so he grabbed the opportunity to enter the PMA where he not only got a free education, he also got a modest stipend and the guarantee of a good job after graduation.

He later took the tests to qualify for the United States Service Academies – one of the most rigorous examinations that allows only the brightest and strongest candidates from all over Southeast Asia to join West Point (Army), Annapolis (Navy and Marines) and the Air Force Academy (the Philippines used to have yearly slots reserved in these schools until the US closed its military bases in the country).

Life in USAFA wasn’t easy, Quijano conceded. There wasn’t much difference in training concept with PMA, he added, but it still took a heavy mental, physical and emotional toll partly because he was so far from home and family.

“I couldn’t let my American counterparts look down on me; that’s why I strived to be better at everything I do every single day – whether it’s military, athletics or academics. It just so happened I excelled militarily and athletically. I had the right attitude which PMA equipped me with and it helped me get through the difficult times,” Quijano explained.

After the graduation ceremonies, the foreign cadets are usually ushered to a separate ceremony where they will get their officer’s commission from their respective countries. The Philippine Air Force’s DC-based military attaché, Col. Arnel Duco is expected to swear him in as a 2nd Lieutenant in the PAF.

“I intend to serve my country to the utmost of my abilities,” Quijano stressed. “I will use what I learned here to be an asset for change and innovation in the military. I will do what I can at my level to hopefully affect the bigger system.”

It’s been a long journey for the young man whose dreams were built watching the planes fly in and out of the runway close to their home. So, near the end of four years of study and toil, the newly-minted Philippine Air Force officer declared his most ardent wish, “I hope to fly the Philippine’s aircraft soon.”

(c) http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/05/22/13/meet-filipino-who-graduates-honors-us-academy