Bila Fruit Wines: Beyond the Boundaries

The production of homemade fruit wines has become a new industry for the people of Bila, Bauko, Mt. Province nowadays. Their participation in the national trade fair held last summer allowed the Ibila wine producers to penetrate the national market.

BY FLORENCE BATAWANG
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat

The production of homemade fruit wines has become a new industry for the people of Bila, Bauko, Mt. Province (394 km. north of Manila). They used to be known for their quality clay pots, which the neighboring provinces of Ilocos, Isabela and Benguet once recognized as the area’s pride.

Barangay Bila pioneered the mass production of fruit wines. However, it is only now that it has become popular nationally and other municipalities of Mt. Province have started venturing into it.

Fruit winemaking was introduced in Bila in the late 1990s. Mila Dalasen pioneered the production in the village, and cherry wine was her first product. According to stories, Dalasen learned cherry winemaking from a couple in Otucan, Bila’s neighboring village. When she started it, her neighbors followed suit. To date, there is a winemaking association in the village with 52 members.

They have made innovations in winemaking by using other fruits like guavas, lemons, pineapples, bugnay, strawberries, gingers, and grapes. All fruits are readily available in their backyards, except for strawberries which are bought from La Trinidad, Benguet.

These fruit wines are additional to the traditional tapey (rice wine) that the Ibila (Bila settlers) usually produce. Like the tapey, fruit wines were first made for domestic consumption and as tokens for visitors. The visitors’ appreciation of their wines encouraged them to commercially produce it.

Cion Ayeo, a winemaker, said that for a good wine to be produced, fermentation should take five to six months.

According to Wine Processors Association President Maureen Lumabas, it was in the 2000s when winemaking boomed. They gained the support of a nun, Sr. Shirley Agoo. She was also a wine producer; thus, she conducted various seminars for the Ibila.

Packaging, which includes labeling and sealing their wine bottles, has been an important factor in selling the Bila fruit wines. At first, they used recycled bottles of commercially branded wines. Today, most of their products are now in longneck bottles with appealing labels and seals.

Competition in the market urged the producers to opt for a more presentable wine packaging, compared to their once-cheap labels.

Delia Napat-a, vice president of the association, recently organized the wine producers to get their labels, tags and seals in bulk orders from the printing press. However, she refused to disclose figures.

The wine producers recently joined the Lang-ay Festival of Mt. Province, a festival that showcases the area’s wine products. They also participated in the Adivay festival of Benguet.

Their participation in the national trade fair held last summer allowed the Ibila wine producers to make it to the national market. Bulk orders from Manila started to come. They look forward to entering the Manila market again in March 2006.

"The demand for (our) wine is really increasing," Lumabas said. However, she said that though the demand is high, they could not provide enough supply. Some producers lack capital for equipment, materials and ingredients. Some are busy with their full-time jobs. A few of them are farmers, teachers, and employees of some companies.

To date, prices range from P80-P150 ($1.55–2.91 at $1:P51.48) a bottle, or P1,000-P1,200 ($19.32-23.31) a case.

Today, not only Bila residents are into the fruit wine venture. Mt. Province towns like Tadian, Sagada, Sadanga, among others are also into fruit wine production.

However, Lumabas says that despite the fame and glory their fruit wines are fast gaining, the Ibila do not forget their “tapey as the original and authentic Bila wine.” Nordis/Posted by Bulatlat 

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