Aside from my teen and military years, for the most part, I have always been into wines, rather than beers. Living in US, Europe, Australia, and Philippines I have always found and enjoyed affordable wines. Moving to Dumaguete from Makati 12 years ago, it was painful not to find enjoyable wines. However, the last few years have been a huge improvement in wine offerings. I bounce around between the mall, Sofia's, and Blairs to find red (cabernet, merlot, shiraz) wines I enjoy. I primarily select Australia wines. What I call premiums go for P800+ and there are 5 brands I look for, but there are plenty of more affordable wines in the P500 range that are not bad, and about 5-6 brands I choose from, especially toward the end of the month when the wine budget is running out. Sometimes I have my own wine and cheese night with cheese from Belcris or Why Not. Life is good. Note: many Australia wines have screw tops and as one-handed man I don't have to go through the process of my wife opening the cork.
I note you tend to go for red wine over white Pat. I have found red wine tends to give me headaches more so than white? Friends pointed out that the French drink ice water at the dinner table along with red wine, maybe that's the secret to not ending up with a headache? I prefer Rose or a light semi- dry White with most meals out, while I try not to drink at home ( Wine never tastes the same the next day ) it's a temptation to drink the whole bottle in one session. There's a large choice of wines available at most UK Supermarkets at around £4 a bottle upwards, probably £5-£6 is average, while sparkling wine tends to be £7-£10, unless of course you prefer Champagne then the sky is the limit! Cheers Pat your good health my dear man.
Pato what reds do you have available. I like the Australian reds too but last night had the Chillian red, was rather good. I'm in Thailand ATM but we plan to get to Duma in about a month.
Wine choices have definitely improved over the last 5 yrs. Like Sophia and Blair, JLH also has nice selection. Most purchases are aussie, chile, spain, almost no french or US... Love the "screw tops," most of the corks these days in dumaguete seem to dry out too much, 95% of ours are screw tops. (maybe thats our place, not the stores) ...
