Federico's Island Wine

Federico’s Island Wine produces wines made from organically-grown tropical fruits “bignay” (Scientific name: Antidesma bunius; English names: Chinese laurel, currant tree, salamander tree), and “duhat” (Scientific name: Syzgium cumini; English names: Black plum, Java plum). We target the A and B markets, already knowledgeable and appreciative of wines. We create livelihood and generate profit for our fruit suppliers who all belong to the rural poor with one or a few bignay or duhat trees in their yards. Although these are trees with edible fruits, these are not popularly eaten so are just left to ripen and fall or eaten by birds. With Federico’s Island Wine, these tree owners have a ready market for their fruits, although fruiting is seasonal. We also generate livelihood for our workers.

We produce high-quality wines through the natural fermentation process with absolutely no added chemicals or preservatives. We target the A and B economic classes, already familiar with and appreciate and consume wine. Currently we serve mainly the local (Negros Occidental) market, as well as travelers who buy our wines for gift or “pasalubong.” In the next three years we plan to penetrate the national market. Our current major equipment includes blenders, household water pufifier, and fermentation tanks, but for expansion we would need industrial-grade blenders, capping machine, filter pumps, pasteurizer, and continuously-cooled fermenters.

Our customers buy our products because of novelty value and quality. Imported red wines are made from grape, a traditional stuff for red wine since time immemorial. With tropical fruits like bignay and duhat, suddenly a new kind of raw material for red wine came to the market. And bignay especially, it has been said by a wine connoisseur to be the closest to grape-made wines among the other none-grape berries which are also being made into wine. Since bignay and duhat are naturally-growing trees, they are not fertilized with chemical fertilizers, resulting to organic wines.

In the beginning our customers were mainly friends and the network of people we meet as a result of our regular jobs. By word of mouth the knowledge and appreciation of Federico’s Island Wine spread, and some of our original buyers now buy in bulk. To provide a regular and popular venue where customers can buy our products, we have since been selling them at Merci Pasalubong Center.

For the next three years we plan to strengthen our name as quality producer of organic, all-natural quality wines, especially in the national market. Only then will we attempt to stock our products in similar venues where imported wines are stocked. Currently, we have practically no similar competitor in the locality.

Our products are made from tropical fruits picked from naturally growing trees unfertilized and unsprayed with chemicals. Our processing uses no chemicals or preservatives. Our wines are comparable to grape-derived red-wines.

I am an agriculturist with about 40 years of experience, specializing in plant pathology and microbiology. I have been making fruit wines, specifically “bignay” and “duhat” since the 1970’s as a hobby, and my long years in this endeavor enabled me to refine my methods and turn out high-quality products that are now greatly sought by the local market, with great prospects for national and even international penetration. Through the years I have learned not to compromise quality to gain sales, to get feedback from consumers and consider their suggestions, to identify weak links in our supply chain and develop corresponding remedies, and most of all, like wine itself – to patiently wait and get matured and be refined by time before coming out for a big undertaking, such as formalizing this business into what it is now.

Livelihood for fruit suppliers, all of whom are poor rural dwellers with one or two trees in the backyard, as well as livelihood for our workers. Better incomes for them contribute to money movement in the local economy. Bignay and duhat trees, otherwise cut for firewood or charcoal will be preserved.