WINE-TASTING takes five steps: See the color, smell to determine the family of the fruit, swirl to open the wine, sip to assess the quality and then savor to enjoy the wine.
And guests at the recent wine-tasting event held at the Gourmet Section of Felcris Superstore had their try of the 5 steps trying out five wines from five different countries.
Julian Gagliardi, general manager of The Straits Wine Company, joined Dabawenyo guests in an afternoon wine adventure that featured premium old and new world wines, which include: Col Vetoraz Docg Brut Prosecco 2013, Aix Rose 2013, Marco Felluga Pinot Grigio 2013, Babich Marlborough Pinot Noir 2013, and the Oddfellows Winner's Tank Shiraz 2012.
"Filipinos actually are big drinkers, you already are consuming lots of alcohol, and to be honest sometimes, it's good to want wine since it's a bit more healthy, it's not so strong in alcohol and it's made in a decent way. So I think, the mentality is changing toward the premium kind of drink and a bit more of healthy as well, so I think there's a big potential of wine in this country," said Julian to describe the potential of the Philippine market for premium wines.
In Europe, the legal definition of wine is that of a drink from the fermented juice of grapes. Wines produced from other ingredients other than grapes are called fruit wines.
The wine tasting event at the Felcris Superstore is aimed at introducing the local guests of the different wine brands sourced from around the world.
Julian said wines actually tells the history, the culture and the climate of the land where it is sourced, wines having been associated with the growth of civilizations.
Consequently, wine is often divided into Old World Wines and New World Wines. Old World wines are those from countries with a very long tradition of wine making such as in Europe. While New World Wines are those countries with a more recent history of wine-making particularly in the colonies of traditional European powers like in South America and Australia.
During the wine-tasting event, Julian gave inputs particularly on the different wine varieties. He also gave tips on storing wine, determining quality and understanding the labels on the bottle which provides useful information like the geographic origin and age of the wine.
Partaking at the wine-tasting event, I grew fond of Babich Marlborough Pinot Noir 2013, which is sourced from New Zealand.
The featured wines from Strait Wine Company are already available at the gourmet section of Felcris Superstore.