On Bisayan wine: A barrel of laughs, vino en vidrio and cheers!

I keep at least ten different bottles of wine in my room. Oh,oh, I am not a drunkard, much less a roué. But I drink occasionally.Bevitore saltuariamente.

I am wont to get a bottle of wine, especially during my travels. I had sipped the expensive (but not necessarily classy)- merlot, white zinfandel, white grenache, cabernet sauvignon, sangiovese, shiraz, chablis, etc;  and also swigged to the less expensive, but not necessarily tawdry wines.

When I went to Vigan a couple of years ago, I tasted for the first time, their celebrated rice wine, called basi. It is worth to note that it’s one of my top favorites, clobbering those strange, opaque varieties mentioned. However, I still choose vino de coco(coconut wine) over it.

The Bisayan (i.e. Eastern Visayas) tuba avers to be the finest, if not the best wine made from coconut. Not only because the region yields the second largest volume of production (next to the Davao region, 2005 PCA report) of coconut, but because history tells us that tuba is part of Bisayan’s modo de vida.

When the Spaniards footed the Islands, evident to the Pintados people are their gleeful virtue (which the Filipinos as a whole share), thus the name Bisaya- from the root word saya, meaning happy. And in every social gathering, tuba is at the center of conversations and laughter. The Spaniards themselves, both the missionaries and conquistadores, couldn’t say no to inviting spirit of tuba.

During family occasions and even occasionless nights, tuba gathers everyone in telling tales, cracking laughter and chance of bonding. Lately however, the patronage to this traditional drink has been fading, for reasons like the inability of local tuba producers in product innovation to match the growing competition of liquor industry.

Quite the reverse, lately I was introduced to the new vino de coco product in the region. Boy oh boy, the flavor is refined and classy! I am certainly conclusive that this is a sure-fire! Surely, this is the beginning to regain tuba’s glory.

Wine is renowned as heart healthy. And in moderation, it may be a help in trimming weight and reducing forgetfulness. Likewise, it may boost our immunity and help prevent bone loss.

With friends, we share a barrel of laughs. Alone, we exclaim, vino en vidrio!

Aside from the mentioned, we drink wine for varied reasons.

Whatever the reason is, Isalud!

Article published in Manila Channel, August 19, 2012.