Growing up with Basi Wine (San Vicente, Ilocos Sur)
Dr Abe V Rotor
Product quality meets European Standards for Port
and Sherry as evaluated by Food Development Center
and the Department of Science and Technology.*
and Sherry as evaluated by Food Development Center
and the Department of Science and Technology.*
Glazed earthen jars are thoroughly washed and sterilizedbefore filling them with sugarcane juice and botanical
ingredients which will be brewed and aged for two or more years.
Each bottle has a label depicting a significantevent or place about the Ilocos Region, basi
being indigenous to the region.
I grew up with an age old local industry – basi wine making. At home there are still 18th century jars which I use to make basi in the same way my ancestors made this unique table wine for generations.
I remember Lolo Cilling (Marcelino) made basi in the cellar at the lower part of the house made of thick brick wall. Dad took over and increased the number of jars to a hundred or so. He was one of the principal brewers in town in post Commonwealth era - and probably after the infamous Basi Revolt in 1807 when the Ilocanos took arms but lost to the Spanish government who declared monopoly over the industry. Many were killed in that short-lived revolt along the Bantaoay River, a walking distance away from home where my brother Eugene and I used to catchpurong(mullet) with hook and line in summer in our boyhood days.
As a farmhand even before I went to school, father always warned me not to be an aliwegweg (curious at doing a sort of things), the experimenter that I was. One morning as dad went on his routine, first to hear mass in our parish church just across our residential farm, I went to the cellar with a sumpit (small bamboo tube) to take a sip of the sweet day-old fermenting sugarcane juice. I didn't know that with a sip too many one can get get drunk.
And that was precisely what made me feel sick but of course, I did'nt tell dad. He called a doctor to find out what was the matter with me. When the doctor arrived he found me normal. What with the distance from Vigan to San Vicente - on a caleza (horse-drawn carriage)? It would take about a couple of hours. But the doctor was whispering something to dad.
Then it happened. Dad had left for the church, so I thought. I went to the cellar and as soon as I probed the sumpit into a newly fermenting jar and took a sip, someone tapped my shoulder in the dark. lt was dad!
Imagine the expression of his face as I saw it in the dark. I sobbed with embarrassment while he took a deep sigh of relief. Since then the doctor never came again. And I never tasted my “beverage" again.
Years passed. I left home for my studies in Manila. So with my brother and sister. Dad continued the industry until he became very old. By then the demand for the local drink declined as beer and all kinds of wine and liquor began flooding the market. It was requiem to a sunset industry. In 1981, dad died, so with our home industry.
After I retired from government service, I tried to find out if I inherited the "green thumb in wine making." Sure enough after a few years of experimentation I was able to improve the product and even tap the market, catering mainly to tourists and Ilocano balikbayan. Whenever I open a jar and harvest the golden wine, I remember dad standing nearby. This time he is telling me, "Keep it up, son." ~
The revolt erupted 400 km north of Manila, where Diego and Gabriela Silang fought heroically against Spanish rule 50 years earlier. The cause: Declaration of Wine Monopoly by the Spanish government virtually taking from the hands of local brewers an industry the Ilocos region had long enjoyed even before Spain colonized the islands. For centuries basi was an important item of commerce among Asian neighbors, and later with the Galleon Trade (1565-1815) plying Ciudad Fernandina (now Vigan City) and Europe via Acapulco, Mexico. The final battle took place along Bantaoay River with scores of Spanish soldiers and natives killed. On September 29, 1807 the captured rebels were executed. Artist Don Esteban Villanueva, an eyewitness recorded the historic event in 14 big paintings, now seen at the Vigan Ayala Museum at the original residence of priest martyr, Fr. Jose Burgos. This bottle is a tribute to the heroes of the Basi Revolt and their descendants. Today basi stands among the finest wines of the world.
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* Product Guarantee: Basi is brewed and aged in glazed jars (burnay. It is made from sugarcane, rice, and botanical ingredients - Pithecolobium dulce, Macaranga tanarius and Syzigium cumini. No flavoring and coloring added; no filter and plastic container used. This product meets the European Standard for Champagne, Port and Sherry. (Reference: PFDCS 2498 & PFDCS 9429, Food Development Center, National Food Authority.) Approximately 21 proof. (Ref: 01-00-0CL-0017, ITDI, Department of Science and Technology.) A product of San Vicente, Ilocos Sur, Philippines. Content: 750 ml/375 ml.
Part 2 - A visit to an 18th century Basi wine cellar
San Vicente, Ilocos Sur
Original basi wine cellar and jars (burnay) date back to the
18th century across six generations of continuous operation,
interrupted only by the Second World War for five years.
The cellar attracts researchers, students and tourists for its historical
significance with the Spanish Galleon Trade, and technology of
the old folks in making basi and its related products, principally
vinegar (sukang Iloko).
By now this jar of basi is 13 years old. Unless opened, it remains longer
in aging. The general rule is, the longer wine is aged, the more mellow it
becomes. It's not really so. There are other factors to consider like
damaged clay cap and leaching. And there's the basic rule that "only
good wine mellows with age" (So with man, they add.)
Crystalline golden color and pleasant wine aroma meet the happy
connoisseur after the desired aging period is reached (at least two
years in the case of Rotor basi). Fresh and direct from the jar, the
harvest is bottled, sealed and labelled (as shown below), according
to customers' specifications intended for an occasion like
wedding, Christmas, exhibit, and the like.
House guest picks a fruit wine of his choice, Fruit wine making
follows the basic fermentation-aging process in basi making.
There are 20 kinds of fruit wine developed in this cellar from different
fruits growing locally like macopa, aratiles, duhat and guyabano.
Stamp commemorating the Galleon Trade.
Scene of a Galleon trading post in Ciudad de Vigan in Spanish time.
"The Manila-Acapulco galleon trade* in the 18th century was undertaken by Vigan Chinese mestizo traders who exported local products such as basi, tobacco and abel to Europe and other parts of Asia..." Pia Roces Morato, Thorns and Roses
* Manila-Acapulco galleon trade 1565–1815
Basi jar lying on the sea floor where a galleon ship was wrecked.
Basi sparked one of the major revolts against Spanish rule by the natives when wine monopoly was declared by the government. This meant virtually taking the industry from the hands of the natives. The short-lived uprising took place in Ilocos, with the final battle fought on both sides of the Bantaoay River which runs through the towns of San Vicente up to San Ildefonso, which are today the major suppliers of Basi principally to tourists in Vigan, UNESCO's world heritage city, and one of the cultural wonders of the world.
* Lesson on Living with Nature - School on Blog
former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio 738 DZRB AM, [www.pbs.gov.ph] 8-9 evening class Monday to Friday
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