Romy Sia’s love affair with wine began with, ironically, an infamous wine fraud story—The Billionaire’s Vinegar: The Mystery of the World’s Most Expensive Bottle of Wine by Benjamin Wallace.
The book discussed the story of a 1787 Chateau Lafite Bordeaux, which was presented as being once owned by former US President and wine lover Thomas Jefferson and was auctioned at Christie’s in 1985 for $150,000. But as the Jefferson’s estate could not verify the provenance of the bottle and four other so-called Jefferson bottles, the sorry tale of fraud began to unravel—the wine was tested and found to date from 1962, and empty bottles and blank wine labels were discovered at the house of the wine dealer.
Wallace closed his book by describing how, in the last years of his life, Jefferson himself was reduced to drinking lesser wines, perhaps because there were no more hidden caches of wine waiting to be discovered. “Thomas Jefferson was drinking cheap table wine, and very happily so,” Wallace wrote. Better the table wine, of course, than to be drinking counterfeit wine.
Sia came across the book during an annual trip to Anaheim, California in March 2009 for Healthy Options at the Barnes & Noble branch in New Port Beach. It prompted him to open his first Wine Story branch at Shangri-La Mall in Ortigas, and, a decade later, his second branch at One Uptown Residence in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.
“Wine Story is a story of serendipity. I would not have discovered my passion for wine in general, and obsession for Bordeaux wine in particular had I not read The Billionaire’s Vinegar. And Wine Story would not have existed,” Sia said.
Sia, who finished reading the book in just two days, said his main takeaway was how each bottle of wine has a story to tell.
“Most people discovered wine through their palate. I fell madly in love with wine because of the story behind each bottle. So mad I wanted to have my own wine shop,” he said.
With its temperature-controlled, all-glass cellar, the wine bottles glow like precious gems inside Sia’s store. His BGC branch, which was designed by a Paris-based architect, brings the whole Bordeaux experience—its vineyard, chateau, and cellar—to Manila.
“The idea is to give an immersive experience of learning, discovering, and enjoying the finest wines of Bordeaux together with Burgundy and Champagne,” Sia said.
More than the ambiance and design, Wine Story takes pride in the following: the provenance of its wines which come directly from the Bordeaux chateaux and from reputable wine merchants in London; its storage conditions—from the moment the wines leave Bordeaux to the time these are displayed, the temperature is kept strictly between 14 to 18 degrees Celsius to assure quality; its wide selections of mature vintages (20 years and older) and large format bottles (1.5 to 18-liter bottles) that are not found anywhere else.
“Wine Story does not buy from third parties or private collectors. This is to guarantee authenticity,” Sia added.
The BGC branch even has a Billionaire’s Wine room, where a bottle of Petrus was recently sold for P1.3 million. That must have been an extremely lucky day for the man who bought that limited edition bottle. And his must have been one good wine story!
I’m at joyce.panares@gmail.com.
