Homegrown winery opens next month in Davao
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 14 February) – What began as a hobby in 2016 has grown into a promising startup venture, as a homegrown winemaker is set to start selling wines made from locally grown grapes at a family-owned vineyard in Barangay Tacunan, this city, in time for the celebration of the 89th Araw ng Dabaw next month.
Jennifer Taglucop, one of the owners of the Taglucop Estate Vineyard & Winery, said during the PEP Talks Lifestyle+Tourism Forum on Friday that they plan to initially sell red and white wines to local and foreign tourists visiting their four-hectare vineyard in Barangay Tacunan.
When they began making wines, she said the family envisioned producing world-class quality beverages that the Philippines could take pride in.
Operating a travel agency, she and her husband, lawyer Ferdinand, often travel abroad. During their trips, they made it a point to visit vineyards in the United States, Europe, Australia, and even Thailand.
Seeing several Filipinos visiting the vineyards abroad inspired the couple to establish their own in Davao, so that Filipino travelers would no longer have to travel overseas “just to see grapes.”
The family began growing grapes in 2016 and has since experimented with different varieties to determine which ones would thrive best in Davao’s climate.
She said locally grown grapes taste just as sweet and delicious as imported ones.
Taglucop said her family currently cultivates Shiraz, Moldova, Cabernet, Sauvignon, and Moscato varieties.
Her husband learned winemaking in the US, while her eldest son studied viticulture and oenology at the University of Adelaide in Australia.
She said her husband began making wines in small quantities from their harvest in 2018.
“We haven’t bottled everything yet, but the data shows around 10,000 bottles at 750 milliliters each,” she said.
She said the wines they have produced are currently aging in barrels stored in their cellar in Tacunan, where a wine museum is being built to educate visitors on winemaking.
She said they are soon expanding their vineyard to a 10-hectare property in Bukidnon. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)
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