Imperial Treasure

The Gosset 1999. An under-rated house, this is impeccable vintage champagne
with toast on the nose and a hint of honey on the palette. Value for money!

A very well prepared wine, which opened up ery beautifuly. The 2000 Clos Fortet did remind one of the left bank instead of the classic St-Emillion. The 2004 is a step ahead of the 2000 in my opinion with fresh bouquet and a very balanced palette.

Masterclass with Christian Seely (Pichon Baron!)

Thanks to Jackson from Denise wineshop / The Straits Company, we had the chance to taste some great wines from Bordeaux. Led by Christian Seely, the session was held at the Denise wineshop at Tanjong Pagar.


Short write up of Mr Christian Seely
Born in 1960, Christian Seely was educated at Harrow School and Trinity College
Cambridge where he took an M.A. in English in 1982.
During the following months he accompanied his father, James Seely, wine merchant
and writer, to Bordeaux, to work with him on his book “The Great Wines of
Bordeaux”.

Following this experience, Christian Seely created his own company, “Presents of
Mind” specialising in wines and gastronomy.
After obtaining his MBA at INSEAD in 1987, and after a year spent at l’Oréal in
Paris, he worked for Guinness Mahon Development Capital, for whom he managed
the turn around of several companies in which they had investments.
In October 1993 he was able to unite this work experience with his passion for wine
when he was named Managing Director of Quinta do Noval, a new investment of the
AXA Millésimes group in Portugal.

In the year 2000, AXA invited Christian Seely to take up the position of Managing
Director of AXA Millésimes, following the retirement of Jean-Michel Cazes. Since
that time he manages the AXA Millésimes group of vineyards, whose head office is
based at Château Pichon-Longueville Baron.

Besides this prestigious Pauillac Grand Cru Classé, Christian Seely is responsible for
looking after Châteaux Pibran in Pauillac, Petit-Village in Pomerol, Suduiraut in
Sauternes, Mas Belles Eaux in the Languedoc, as well as Domaine de l’Arlot in Nuits-
St-Georges, Disznókı in Hungary and Quinta do Noval in Portugal. He is also the
President of the Compagnie Médocaine, the Bordeaux Négociant, which is wholly
owned by AXA Millésimes. Apart from these AXA Millésimes companies, he is
managing director and part owner of Quinta da Romaneira in the Douro, and cofounder
and joint owner of Coates and Seely Ltd, producer of English Sparkling wine
in Hampshire, England.

He lives today in the city of Bordeaux with his wife Corinne, stepson Antoine, and
sons Theodore and