An American Hears the Call of Burgundy

By ERIC ASIMOV
September 14, 2011
BEFORE his 29th birthday, Ray Walker became the first American ever to make Le Chambertin, the grand cru red Burgundy that is one of the most revered names in wine. How Mr. Walker came to make this wine is a story of passion and perseverance, family support and great good fortune, naïveté and surprises, not least of which is that Mr. Walker had never drunk a Chambertin before he made his own.
Happily-ever-after tales are rare in the wine business, which generally operates on the more down-to-earth plane of crafty marketing and cut-throat competition. But Mr. Walker’s entry into the famously insular world of Burgundy, with little money, no connections and virtually no experience in winemaking, seems straight from the annals of fairy godmothers and Prince Charmings.
Today, Mr. Walker — tall and lean with sculptured good looks — and his wife, Christian, are the proud proprietors of Maison Ilan, a small négociant business here in the heart of the Côte de Nuits. It is named after their young daughter, Isabella Ilan Walker.
Up to now, they have made only a little bit of red wine, including two grand crus, Le Chambertin and Charmes-Chambertin. The wines are elegant, fresh, structured and graceful — astoundingly so, given they were made by a novice.
As a younger man, Mr. Walker, who grew up in the Bay Area and worked there in his family’s real estate business, was decidedly not a wine drinker. It was not until he met his future wife, who liked wine, that the subject came up.
“We’d get into heated arguments,” Mr. Walker, now 30, recalled during a recent visit to his small, spotless winery underneath his house here. “She’d say, ‘Adults drink wine with food,’ and I’d say, ‘Only alcoholics do.’ ”
Not until they traveled to Italy, where Mr. Walker proposed marriage, did he see the light. It shined so brightly that he became obsessed with wine.
At first he studied Bordeaux. But early in 2005 he sampled a 2002 Meursault Clos de la Barre from Comtes Lafon, a white Burgundy. Another bright light went off.
“Oh my God, this is nature!” he recalled saying after tasting the wine, his excitement of the moment still palpable. “From that moment on, I was certain I was going to explore Burgundy. And then we got into the reds, and I couldn’t believe it.”
For two years, Mr. Walker carried around “Côte d’Or,” Clive Coates’s magnum opus on Burgundy. Finally, in 2008, as he was training for a new job at Merrill Lynch, with his wife six months pregnant, he realized he was not happy. With her support, he quit to learn about the wine business.
Before long he was hired at Freeman Winery in Sebastopol, in Sonoma County, to wash barrels and help with bottling and the harvest.
“He’s a really bright guy, and he gets it right away,” said Ed Kurtzman, the winemaker at Freeman. “He was driven and knew exactly what he wanted to do, though I don’t think he knew where he was going to end up.”
At Freeman, Mr. Walker learned the basics of making wine. The ambition was growing to do it himself, but when he was offered some petite sirah grapes to turn into wine, he could not muster enthusiasm.
“My wife said: ‘Don’t do that. We don’t drink wines like that,’ ” he recalled. She asked him what he was most passionate about, and the answer, Burgundy, was obvious. So were the obstacles.
In the real world, people do not leave their jobs, their wives, their new babies because they fantasize about making wine in Burgundy. If the all-too-real logistical and financial difficulties are not enough to swat down such ambitions, certainly the dubious prospects of acquiring grapes and equipment and enough money would do the trick. Yet here was Mr. Walker’s wife and parents urging him to follow his heart. What else was he to do?

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/27/dining/with-maison-ilan-an-american-winemaker-invades-burgundy.html?_r=2

Tourists and visitors from Manila arrive in Clark Philippines discover the best Italian Restaurant in Pampanga that also offers a large selection of fine vintage wine from Italy in the cellars of Yats Restaurant, the best restaurant in Pampanga frequently visited by food and wine lovers looking to drink and relax in the best restaurant in Clark Pampanga.

Wine and food lovers regard Yats as the best Italian Restaurant in Pampanga, the best restaurant in Clark Pampanga for enjoy authentic Italian cuisine accompanied by fine Italian wine from the wine cellars of this highly recommended Italian Restaurant in Angeles City Clark Pampanga

Yats Restaurant is an excellent Restaurant to dine, a restaurant with good food, a good place to have birthday party and special events. A Kid-friendly restaurants in Manila

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Clearwater Resort and Country Club is one of the ideal venues for birthday party because it is a risk free venue. Not only Birthday Parties but also a good place to enjoy family reunion. A good place to celebrate special occasions. Clearwater Resort and Country Club is one of the resorts in Subic Clark Angeles City Pampanga or near Manila with activity amenities, place that are nice for celebration. It is one of North Luzon Philippines’ top hotels that is trouble free, risk free, and a nice place to have rest in Subic. A well-recognized and interesting hotel.

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Best restaurant in Angeles City, Clark Philippines adds extra thrill to fine dining in Pampanga by rolling out regional wine dinner featuring the excellent cuisine of France, a set menu that wine lovers travel out of town from Manila can enjoy with fine vintage wines of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone and other wine regions of France available at the famous wine shop Clark Wine Center.

Are you looking for an attractive restaurant or a nice place to eat with friends in Clark, Angeles City Pampanga? Yats Restaurant and Wine Bar is a restaurant with good food and good wines for dinner located at Clark Angeles City Pampanga. Perfect for exclusive dinner venues for groups, recommended for private dinner in Philippines. A Restaurant in Clark for business dinner meeting. Private dinner place or dinner restaurant in Clark Subic Near Manila Angeles City Pampanga. Yats Restaurant is one of the Good Restaurant in Pampanga Angeles City Clark near Manila. Yats Restaurant is one of the good restaurants in Pampanga, a restaurant with good food, a place that is nice for celebration, ideal for business dinner meeting, a good place to enjoy family reunion, and an attractive restaurant that serves good wines for dinner.

Regional wine dinners are a specialty at fine dining Yats Restaurant and Wine Lounge located near Manila in Pampanga Angeles City Clark Philippines. This top rated restaurant throws special dinner showcasing the cuisine of a selected culinary region and then pair the 4- or 5-course dinner with wines from that region also. These food and wine regions include Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone, Loire, Languedoc, Champagne, Tuscany, Piedmont, Spain, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, California, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and other major wine producing regions in the world. Classic recipes are revised for these special dinners at this restaurant in Pampanga while wines that are used in the pairing are not available anywhere else in the Philippines. This restaurant in Clark is the only place where special wine dinners can be enjoyed.

For comments, inquiries and reservations click on Click here for inquiry and reservations

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(045) 599-5600
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Getting to this fine dining restaurant of Angeles City Clark Freeport Zone Pampanga Philippines
How to get to this fine-dining restaurant in Clark Philippines? Once you get to Clark Freeport, go straight until you hit Mimosa. After you enter Mimosa, stay on the left on Mimosa Drive, go past the Holiday Inn and Yats Restaurant (green top, independent 1-storey structure) is on your left. Just past the Yats Restaurant is the London Pub.

Yats Restaurant & Wine Bar
Mimosa Drive past Holiday Inn, Mimosa Leisure Estate,
Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga, Philippines 2023

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To buy wine in Manila, Pampanga, Angeles City, Clark or Subic please log on to http://www. ClarkWineCenter.com

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