Sunday, September 28, 2008 Wine should be like this By Stella A. Estremera Goin' places
ADD a quick trip to Cebu, and while the Dabawenya in me occasionally raises her eyebrow as yet another sight is compared with Davao and Davao wins hands down, this week's Goin' Places only has praises.... for the wine.
It was a busy trip and so we couldn't get together for some wine on the first night. The second night was reserved for that, and the place: The Wine Shop.
It's owned by a Spanish man, Michelle said, and is popular among the wine-loving crowd.
I say, it's nice. It's an old house turned into a resto-bar, it's quaint, and offers fod you can really dig your teeth in.
What struck me was their wine.
They only carry Spanish wines and had one of those more common and not so good table wine among the list. I have no problem with that since that's how the wine scene is here. You have to have a few ones on the lower rungs for those who just want the kick.
I'm a Chilean wine fan, but I've been taught how to appreciate Spanish wine as well. And since we had to stay in the middle-level in terms of price, I ordered a Crianza for just around the lower end of 400 per bottle.
The bottle looked familiar, I'm a wine drinker and I get to meet a lot of those bottles in my explorations of wine shops, and I appreciate their price.
This is where I have to admit that Davao has become outrageous in... pricing wine.
When you're familiar with wine and you know very well that what you're getting is a bottle that was bought off the counters of some convenience store for just around P300, you're not supposed to sell it for P900. But this is done in Davao. If that isn't bar robbery, I don't know what is. (That's okay if it's in a hotel bar; we all know that price can be a bit stiff in first-class hotels. But regular bars shouldn't rob their customers like selling a P400-plus bottle for P1,000-up).
Thank God there are a few wine shops who know that wine is an ideal partner for sumptuous food -- and so we have the likes of Picobello where you can get a Ventisquero Classico (cabernet sauvignon) for just around P600 or less, and you don't feel robbed because you know that costs around P400-plus.
Back to The Wine Shop.
Yes, it's popular, and yes, their sausage is very, very good. We ordered cervelat, along with a vegetable pizza, and spicy Spanish sardines. It was fun... while it lasted.
All set to go home by midnight because that's my going-home time (not necessarily going to sleep), we were just waiting for our change when along came a car. It was Sun.Star Cebu's editor in chief Chiquing Seares and he was just starting his night... at midnight. He urged us to stay on. Oh dear.
Suddenly I'm glad I live in Davao where even my officemates go home by midnight. I'll just buy my wine from the wine cellar and share it with friends. I went home at 2:30 a.m... past Davao's liquor ban.
