The Filipino Palate

As Filipino consumers’ interest in wine continues to develop, it’s more important than ever for the wine industry to listen closely to the voice of ordinary wine drinkers who are increasingly confident about knowing what they enjoy in the Philippines’ unique climate and culinary scene.

Winery.ph, the Philippines leading e-commerce marketplace for wine, markets hundreds of wine labels from dozens of importers sourced from around the world. Because of this, the sales data of Winery.ph provides fascinating insight into the Filipino wine palate today, as well as clues for wine market trends in the years ahead.

In 2020, Winery.ph is revealing its top-selling red and white wines of the year in its Kavino Choice awards announcement.  (‘Kavino’ loosely means ‘fellow wine drinker’ in Filipino and refers to the thousands of regular shoppers discovering the better choice, access, and convenience of online wine buying.). The wines announced today have all been certified by thousands of Filipino consumers as being of great quality and value for money, and from today will carry a new medallion on their Winery.ph product listing certifying this achievement.

Read our previous media release for a full summary of the eligibility and selection criteria used in determining the 2020 Kavino Choice Award winners by Winery.ph.

Introducing The 2020 Kavino Choice Award Winners

White Wines

Red Wines

Key Observations of the 2020 Best-Sellers

For white wines, the 2020 list was heavily populated with New World Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, with Sauvignon Blanc, including blends, making up 5 of the 12 winners. Winery.ph Chief Sommelier Chris Urbano noted that “In whites, we see strongest demand for fruit driven and vibrant acidity, and new world Sav Blanc has really captured the Philippine market’s attention for now”. However, there are a few surprising varieties making the list, including typically drier styles such as Pinot Grigio, Macebeo, as well as versatile and food friendly whites like Chenin Blanc and Riesling. As for countries, USA and Australia took out top honors with 3 best-selling wines each, closely followed by two from New Zealand, which is famed in the wine world for its Marlborough-region Sauvignon Blanc.

For red wines, three wines really stood out as blockbusters this year – the Dealto Rioja Crianza, a certified DOCG Rioja Crianza at a breakthrough price point, the ubiquitous Matsu el Picaro, a powerful Toro red which took the Philippine wine market by storm with its eye catching labels, and Camille de Labrie, an outstanding value for money Bordeaux red that customers bought over and over again. Outside of these big hitting old world regions, the USA had the most entries in this year’s list, with five Californian reds, three of them big, fruit driven Cabernet Sauvignons, though it was pleasing to see Zinfandel and Pinot Noir represented as well. Urbano commented: “The Philippines has had a long historical connection with both Spain and the USA and that has no doubt played a part in building a strong familiarity with these big powerful, fruit driven styles over the decades and to today”.  For now, France, Spain, and the USA appear to be well entrenched with Filipino consumers, taking 10 out of 12 of the best seller list between them.

What does this mean for the local wine industry?

Winery.ph Kavino Choice awards are pioneering in providing consumers with credible market insights into wines that are great quality and value for money against an extensive field representing a significant group of the total wine imported and sold in the Philippines.

From the 12^th of December, Winery.ph has authorised the corresponding wine importers / wholesalers of the wines announced today to use this award for their own marketing and promotional basis in the interest of helping improve wine quality and transparency for Filipino consumers.

Urbano added: “Filipino consumers have a hard time buying wine in stores, where neither they, nor the stores assistants have that much experience in the product. While it’s easy for any seller out there to say his wine is fantastic and great value, oftentimes that is simply not the case and customers are left disappointed when opening their bottle at home.

Programs like the Kavino Choice award allow consumers to identify quality wine labels and suppliers and over time this will help to improve quality and affordability across the whole market. We congratulate those wine makers and their Philippine importers and distributors on this recognition by our customers and commend them on their commitment to wine quality, and value for money pricing.”