“Impressive gathering of wine tasters” this is what Don Filimon Juntereal, chair of the International Wine and Food Society – Asia Pacific Zone, described the crowd who attended the “TAGAY For A Cause”, an attempt to break the world record for largest number of participants in a wine tasting category which was earlier claimed by Madrid, Spain.
“TAGAY For A Cause” was the brain-child of Congressman Noel that aimed to promote the popular wine product of Region VIII which is “tuba”. Although popular here in the region, it has not yet achieved a national or international recognition as one of the best wine ever produced and also aimed to help the local coconut industry, especially the coconut farmers.
Participants in the attempt to break the Guinness Book of World Record for Largest Wine Tasting Category came from various towns in the six provinces of Region VIII, most coming from Leyte, headed by their respective local government executives.
“I am delighted to say that you will experience the same delight that I experienced, after I tasted two of those two tuba products,” Don Juntereal said after he tasted two variations of bahalina to prove that indeed, tuba is wine.
A total of 9,330 participants registered for the wine tasting event in relation to the 65th Leyte Landing Celebration held at the McArthur National Park grounds in Palo, Leyte. It was validated by the PICPA President Michael Machica where a total of 7, 187 participants qualified as participants to the said event.
When asked if tuba can compete in the international market, Don Juntereal said that it can be marketed in the international market but it will need to undergo more improvement in its quality, by asking help from wine experts.
An Waray Party-list Representative, Florencio Gabriel “Bem” Noel, agreed that tuba wine indeed lacks the marketing that it needs to become popular and be accepted by wine drinkers not only in the country but also in the whole world.
“Tuba lacks marketing, that is why we opt to consume it, instead of selling it in a wider market,” he said.
He added that compared to other wine products they need to be added with yeast to be fermented but tuba alone can ferment on its own and can be used to ferment other wines, as most of wines are extracted from grape fruits.
Although the Waray-waray group was able break the number of participants for wine tasting that was held in Madrid, Spain, Congressman Noel said that they still need to wait for two months for the confirmation of the Guinness if indeed they were able to follow the rules set by the Guinness.
“We still have two weeks after the competition to submit all the documentation needed by the Guinness, to certify that we indeed broke the record of Spain, and we need to wait for another two months for the confirmation of the Guinness,” he said.
After the success of the event “Tagay”, Congressman Noel said that it immediately received national media recognition.
“After the even,t I received a lot of calls from various media outfits asking about what we had done during the “Tagay” and featured our “tuba wine”. I am very thankful to the local media who had helped us from the start when we came-up with this project,” he added.
Present in the said events were various local government executives from Leyte and Samar, heads of various national government offices in the region, representatives from the International Wine and Food Society – Asia Pacific Zone and Guinness Book of World Record, and Waray-Waray celebrities, K Brosas and Karla Estrada.
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