The Winemaker

His is a spirit for a cultural movement that seeks to elevate the way Cebuanos see themselves. His creation is a spirit bound to celebrate sophistication of Cebu heritage and the reputation for quality mango products.

Conrad Montilla’s “wine story” points to 2009, during the celebration of Mother’s Day. He took his mother out in Cebu City for a dinner. “I had rarely seen my mother in the greater part of my adult life. Serving in the United States military and ending a career as a Naval Officer meant I was always far from home,” he narrated during a visit at his winery in Tres de Abril Street recently.

“Cebu City is my home. I left as a child and visit occasionally, but this is where my family roots have always been. This is where I find the greatest sense of familial love out of all the places I’ve travelled.”

Montilla shared how his mother likes wine. “She is by no means an expert, but she likes wine. Opening a bottle of wine for her symbolizes the celebration of a special occasion. It has been many, many, many years since I could remember having the time to spend quality with her on mother’s day. And since I’ve moved back, I do feel the urgency to make up for the feeling of loss before the time we have left together runs ever shorter.”

“You see, my mother is older now. But I still see her at my age, vibrant at 37 being the best role model for a 10-year-old boy, surviving America in the direst situations; working as a house maid supporting three children as a single mother in Los Angeles,” he disclosed.

“I wanted that one special occasion to tell her all her sacrifices were not in vain. I wanted to tell her that I have lived an honorable life, still progressing in my career, and being a father to my newborn, she could be proud of. I wanted to tell her all my achievements in life would not have been possible without her,” he further explained.

“So, I ordered for a local house wine. I was going to impress her with the wine knowledge I acquired while stationed in Naples, Italy, for three years. I wanted to share with her an adult sophisticated quality about me she has not seen before. I wanted to impress her that I can afford a very expensive dinner from a fancy restaurant, one we could not when I was a child.”

As the waiter stood thinking, Montilla told his mother about his landlady Asunta in Naples who made her homemade wine – stomping inside a grape barrel press before daybreak. “I told my mother that Asunta used to insist I drink the wine she just made after I got home while staring at her stained, grape-colored feet.”

Unsure, the waiter interrupted his story. “Excuse me, sir, we don’t serve any local wine. I have heard of a Cebu wine, but that’s the one for Sunday Mass, I think. Or the wine taxi drivers drink,” the waiter said.

Unconvinced, Montilla asked him with his tone of voice slightly raised, “Out of the entire city of Cebu, we don’t make any local wine, not even for Mother’s Day?”

Stern with his answer, the waiter replied: “Yes, sir. We don’t make any quality local wines.”

Montilla found this very anti-intuitive to our situation. He points out, “Imagine we claim to be the richest province in the country, a premier province at that, and we don’t have a wine product that we can identify with. One that can compete with imported, expensive wines.”

Before leaving the restaurant, Montilla felt he was really missing out on a local experience where people showed city pride by their food and wine. He said that as he settled to bed, he kept thinking of the times when he’d equated the places he’d travelled with the composition of delicious flavors that expanded his palate-tasting consciousness.

Curious, he scoured the city for a week. Sadly, there were no other choices apart from the fine imported wines that dominate Cebu.

After two years of trying to answer a question that centers on Cebu identity and Cebu pride, “Conrad’s Mango Wine” is now being poured into our consciousness. “For the first time in our history, we can share with other people a sophisticated side of the Cebuano experience as they eat our food and drink our wine,” he underscored.

“Finally, we have a product we can well identify with. We can say: This wine is me. I am one of the sophisticated side of the Cebuano.”

Furthermore, Montilla enthused that, “our very own mango wine sets the atmosphere to talk about our own culture. Our very own mango wine gives more sense to toasting because we begin to celebrate our own products.”

“Sophistication entails upgrade which is very important now. Too long have we been stereotyped as the comedic, pea-brained atsays (house help) with a funny accent in Tagalog films. The reason we have been looked down this way for generations is because we are enforcing the labels on us,” he added. “It’s about time that young, modern Cebuanos represent each other well.”

Montilla is optimistic that once the 60-percent underrepresented segment of sophisticated, elite Cebu would be churned up to do something about our situation, we can certainly reverse the trend: Cebuanos buy Cebuano products. Eat Cebuano goodies. Drink Cebuano. And embody what Cebu is appropriately to the world.