Sunday, July 31, 2011

Wine Tasting @ Adams

Bielmaju Waley-Bawingan is not just a Mayor's wife but a woman on a mission. A few hours conversation with her while tasting wines she personally made will give you a whole new perspective about her mountainous town of Adams - its unmemorable past and its enthusiastically bright future.

Bielma, remembered that times when the City folks of Ilocos look down on Adams. They usually associate highlanders of Adams as second-class citizen and mostly refer to them as mag-uusa (deer-hunters) and tga-bundok (from the mountains) as if they have nothing to offer but dried deer meat and mountain crops.

But over time, things change when outsiders discover the beauty of the place and its strong potential for tourism. Adams has lots to offer in terms of natural beauty and I will feature these places in my future posts.

Bielma is both Adams health officer and tourism chief. She also heads a group of woman into the development of wine industry in Adams. She believes that with its fertile soil, Adams is the perfect place to cultivate Bugnay (Wild Berry), the most essential ingredient of her Bugnay Wine. Although not yet widely-commercialized, Adam's Bugnay wine can be purchases in several stores in Ilocos.

Other than Bugnay, she also produces other wines such as pineapple, kurrant, passion fruit, assem and other fruits. I know there are other fruits she is experimenting on but maybe because its either not familiar to me or alcohol has just taken its toll on me that I could not remember the names.

To sum it up, there are two things I would like to add. First, Adam's Bugnay wine can give Novelino a run for its taste. Second, Adam's Bugnay wine taste good probably because of the mountainous ambiance. I mean, it is something to look forward to when going to that place... and I can't wait to go back there again.

Bielma Waley-Bawingan can be reached at 0917-538-8303 or 0908 863 7193. You can also email her at bielmajuwaley@yahoo.com.

23 comments:

  1. What an inspiring woman! Terrific and very interesting post, Oman! Hope your weekend is going well!

    Sylvia

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  2. galing talaga at lalo itong sisikat dahil sa dahan dahan ng nakikilala ang mga gawa nila.

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  3. we had bugnay at my grandfather's farm when i was a kid. my lola used to make bugnay jelly...now it's made into wine. wonderful!

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  4. I have tasted bugnay before and I love it, wala na ata akong nakikitang bugnay dito sa Mindanao, sa Vaisayas marami niyan eh.

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  5. Do you know how much the wine costs?

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  6. oh that's a nice way to get the region known. is that bugnay sold elsewhere too.

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    1. they have their bugnay wine in Rockwell. Forgot the name of the bar. But I think they're selling it for Php850 per bottle. But if you buy it in Adams, its Php 250 only.

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  7. What is the percentage of alcohol in that bugnay wine?

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  8. Now I know, Bugnay can produced wine. I love to eat that when I was a child. Me and my cousins used to climb our mountain to get Bugnay. Just add some Sukang Iloko and salt. Yummy!!!

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  9. @ anonymous - a bottle with metal cap costs about a hundred bucks while a bottle with cork costs about triple that.

    @ photo cache - if i remember it right, bugnay is available in other parts of ilocos too. in fact if the harvest in adams is not enough, they usually buy bugnay at adjacent towns in ilocos.

    @ bertN - uh oh, i might be too drunk to remember the % content but some of them taste like lambanog or gin that have truly high alcohol content.

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    1. the wine you said that tastes like lambanog or gin is the rice wine or tapuey.

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  10. This is a nice info about Adams and I do hope that the wine industry will give them prominence.

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  11. hangaganda pala sa Adams, hmmm..daanan ko yan pagnagawe uli ako ng Iolcos. Parang nakita ko series ng Adams sa group nyo at si Mon ata taga-dun.Dame tlga magagandang place sa Ilocos Norte. thanks for sharing!

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  12. interesting feature...never thought of something like wild berry wines coming out from Luzon. Are they selling them in Manila now?

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  13. Interesting post. Ano naman lasa nyan? Di ba maasim ang bugnay?

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  14. I've never tried this wine before! Now I can't wait to try, sana we revisit the region someday soon so we could check it out.

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  15. thanks for your blog..i'm so proud to be an Adamian !!! i miss my hometown Adams !

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  16. bugnay wine has really the greatest taste :)

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  17. bugnay wine has the greatest taste !

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