Coconut ‘wine’ hopes to charm Chinese

A Filipino “wine” made from the sap of coconut palm flowers is hoping to capitalise on a growing thirst for coconut wine in Asia by launching in the Chinese market.

Vacal Vino de Coco

Vacal Vino de Coco is the brainchild of Filipino-American George Vacal Paraliza, and claims to be the first premium coconut wine, known locally as “tuba”, to be made in the Philippines.

The three-strong Vacal Vino de Coco range is formed of a dry red, a sweet white and a sweet red.

The trio are set to go on sale in China this month through Fly Dragon International Marketing, who will distribute the wine across the country with an RRP of around 100 Yuan (£11) a bottle.

Paraliza also hopes to launch the wine in the US and Canada later this year and aims to get Vino de Coco into high-end hotels across the Philippines.

In order to cater to the growing global demand for coconut wine, Paraliza is looking into ways to secure funding in order to increase production at his winery in Tacloban City in Leyte.

“Right now, we are making 1,875 cases a month. If we could quadruple our production immediately, I could easily sell that,” he told the Philippine Information Agency.

He hopes to be producing 7,600 cases a month by next spring.

The sap from coconut palm flowers is in abundance in in the Philippines, which is the world’s second largest producer of coconuts after Indonesia.

Launched in the domestic market in 2011, Vacal Vino de Coco is made from 100% fermented coconut sap.