I must admit that Filipinos don’t drink wine that much. It is usually served during special occasions such as weddings and birthdays and perhaps during Christmas and New Year dinner. Until recently, the availability of Italian wine importers brought us easy access to wines. Mind you, the more acceptable wines are usually the sweetish type. Me? I’ve been fascinated with wines, not so much for drinking but for cooking. I’ve read a lot of recipes that call for white or red French wine in stews, pastas and seafoods. It does make the dish better flavored. I especially enjoy wine tasting in grocery stores, take note of the wines I like, and when I get the chance, get a bottle or two.

Perhaps because we don’t grow grapes here in the Philippines that we don’t have wine in our cuisine. We do have a lot of fruit wines, from mangoes to pineapples. I have yet to try them though, as they are not often available in the local stores. To learn more about wines, I rely on an online wine guide.