Wine opinion: Burgundy chateau flourishes under its Chinese owner

(SCMP) - The village of Gevrey-Chambertin lies just above Morey-St-Denis, the last of the big stars on the Route des Grands Crus before it slides into the outskirts of Dijon. As if it needed it, the appellation got an unexpected shot of publicity last year when Louis Ng Chi-sing, chief operating officer at SJM Holdings in Macau, was revealed as the new owner of Chateau de Gevrey-Chambertin.

Ng reportedly paid €8 million (HK$85 million) for the two-hectare estate, or double what it was "officially" worth - and much more than the €5 million a group of local winemakers had gathered to keep it in French hands. The wines of the chateau - it counts a tiny slice of grand cru Charmes-Chambertin and barely a drop more of premier cru Lavaux St Jacques among them - were little known before the purchase, with most consumed by tourists who regularly visit one of the key photo stops in the old village centre.

Owned by the same family since the 19th century, the 1,000-year-old building is the oldest on the entire Côtes de Nuits, and has been on the official registry of historic Burgundy monuments since 1993.

But even so, the outcry that was prompted by, in the words of several newspapers at the time, the "loss of France's heritage", was almost hysterical.

But Ng listened and released a statement through lawyers saying that he was a long-time wine lover who had the utmost respect for tradition, that the winemaking would remain in French hands, and that a French architect, Christian Laporte, would renovate the property.

One year on, the winemakers of Gevrey seem to have learned to live with their new neighbour, if the crowds and buzz at the annual Le Roi Chambertin tasting were anything to go by. This was a recent highlight of the wine-tasting year in Burgundy, where 44 of the village's producers showcase around 120 wines from the 2012 vintage.