Philippines: Winemaker creates premium coconut wine

(TheMalayMailOnline) - A Filipino winemaker is hoping to put coconut-based wines, which have long been consumed in parts of South Asia and Africa, on liquor store shelves around the world.

Made from the sap of coconut palm flowers, Vino de Coco is slated to hit shelves this month in China, where it will sell for 100 yuan a bottle (RM50), reports trade publication The Drinks Business.

And while coconut wine is considered a common “conventional” drink in the Philippines, Filipino-American entrepreneur George Vacal Paraliza is hoping to turn the beverage — also known locally as tuba — into the world’s first premium product by upgrading with “aroma, flavour and complexity.”

Coconut wine is made by tapping fresh sap from the flower of the coconut tree.

Vino de Coco, located in Tacloban City, Philippines, proposes a trio of wines. The dry red is described as a “true wine drinker’s drink” for being smooth and tannic. The sweet red is to be consumed as a dessert wine or post-dinner digestif, while sweet white coconut wine leaves a light, sweet taste on the palate and can be consumed any time.

After rolling out in China, Paraliza said he hopes to find partners in the Filipino luxury hotel market and export the coconut wine to the US and Canada later this year.