A truly grand wine experience!

CEBU, Philippines - We’ve attended many Wine and Cheese events here in Cebu, but it was the first time I decided to honor an invitation by a good friend, Robert “Bobby” Joseph and his brother Ralph of Ralph Wines to go to Manila for the 10th Grand Wine Experience, an annual event that Ralph’s Wines & Spirits have been hosting for 10 years now. Call it convenient that this food and wine event was held at the New World Hotel in Greenbelt where we stayed, so our room was close enough when we had our fill of the wine.

Being used to Cebu’s Wine and Cheese events, which isn’t really a huge affair, I was taken aback by the number of guests who attended the Grand Wine Experience. Manila’s glitterati was on hand not just to taste the wines from all the wine producing countries of the world, but also to savor the great food (all kinds of cheeses, from Brie, Blue cheese, Camembert and a Swiss Raclette) from Peking Duck, Dim Sum to Angus Steak, complete with the music by the Sabor Latino Band.

Because the Joseph brothers are also in the spa business, it was a great blessing that they set up a TonTon Foot Spa in one of the function rooms because usually, cocktail events like the Wine and Cheese events are Standing Room Only events and it just kills your feet standing, talking and eating for hours. I guess this comes from the experience that the Joseph brothers had in hosting so many Grand Wine events and perhaps in the future, people who wish to host cocktails could learn from this experience.

Tasting the different wines from Germany, South Africa, Chile, the US, even Japan, Australia, Italy and, of course, France was an experience in itself. It really confuses you palette! There were so many wine products that tasted great, but we just couldn’t remember their names. Of course, the more famous one is Moet & Chandon, which arguably makes one of the greatest champagnes in the world and the famous Dom Perignon, but for that evenings’ event, they served a different class and vintage of wine that I have never tasted before, a Brut Imperial and a Grand Vintage. Yes, this was the wine booth that I repeatedly visited.

It was indeed a grand experience for Jessica and me, together with my good friend Choy Torralba. We also got to meet Ms. Gracie Glory Go of the Philippine Star, former Department of Tourism (DoT) Regional Director Patria “Dawnie” Roa, actor Ricky Davao, the Inquirer’s Donnie Ramirez, Tong Payumo formerly of Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), Enzo Ciliani (formerly of Plantation Bay and is now with Microtel) and Philippine Airlines President Jaime Bautista.