Basi Wine and Ilocos Vinegar
Integrated Production
San Vicente, Ilocos Sur
Dr Abe V Rotor
[avrotor.blogspot.com]
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Rotor Basi (made in San Vicente Ilocos Sur) has labels depicting the Ilocos Region's historical events, landmarks, and outstanding natives of the region - Ilocanos. Basi is a major attraction to tourists from different parts of the world. Basi is the only kind of table wine in the world. Basi as well as its by-product, Ilocos Vinegar (suka ti Ilocos, or sukang Iloko to the Tagalogs) meet rigorous European standards and US Food and Drugs Administration tests.
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The distinct mellow taste of basi comes largely from its aging time in burnay (earthen jars) - perhaps the only kind of tropical table wine processed and aged in this respected age-old tradition. The jars are kept to as long as ten years in home cellars or buried in the ground, and sealed hermetically with hard clay. Basi was once an important article of commerce in the region, and when the islands were colonized by Spain, basi reached Europe via the Galleon Trade passing through Acapulco, the southern tip of Mexico.~
The idea of reviving this sunset industry holds great potential in creating livelihood opportunities, and in integrating agriculture and industry in the practical concept of agribusiness that is rural- and people-based. The industry offers natural products that protect people’s health, and which are friendly to the environment. Lastly, it revives the spirit of Filipino nationalism, culture and tradition.
Historical Background
The manufacture of Ilocos wine (Basi) and vinegar (Sukang Iloko) predates Spanish colonization of the islands. Although the two products were already a part of vigorous trading among the islands and with neighboring countries, basi in particular reached prominence when it became one of the island’s exports for nearly two centuries through the Galleon Trade to Europe by way of Acapulco, Mexico.
Because of the significance of the industry, the Spaniards declared government monopoly on the industry stirring an uprising by the brewers and natives known as the Basi Revolt of 1807.
The Commonwealth era saw the decline in the production of basi and sukang Iloko as imported products flooded the market, and worst, the local industry suffered seriously during the second World War. The industry never recovered since then. Today’s generation has a vague idea of this fine, traditional industry, which was once the pride of our ancestors.
General Features of the Enterprise
1. It revives a once flourishing industry, making use of indigenous tools and materials. Thus, it also relives a rich history of a people and culture.
2. As a cottage- and rural-based family business, it is dependent on family and local manpower; nonetheless it requires innovations in both technology and management.
3. Its products are made from natural materials and by a natural process, hence health-safe and environment-friendly.
4. It makes use of local researches and indigenous skills, but will benefit from institutional researches. It therefore, links the research system and enterprise system, and the field with the laboratory.
5. It is viable as a short- or medium-scale enterprise, but it can be expanded on long term basis, thus it is compatible with different business organizations, most especially family enterprise and cooperative.
6. It supports the philosophy on which NACIDA and KALAKALAN 20 were founded. It is in line with the government’s program on small and medium enterprises, led by DTI, UP Institute of Small and Medium Enterprises, other governmental organizations and NGOs.
7. As a dollar earner (and saver), it takes pride in a modest sense in this contribution, propagating a Filipino product that meets international standard for European table wines, in the likes of sherry, port and mass wine.
Its universal formula lends to expansion of product lines within the same framework of technology and business organization. Table wine can be produced from local fruits such as chico, pineapple, mango, guava, and the like, using the same formula of making basi. This is true with vinegar made from these fruits particularly during their peak season.
The Products
Basi is table wine (12 proof or 6 % alcohol), a product of fermentation of sugarcane. The chemical reaction is shown in this general formula.
C6 H 12 O6 --- Zymase ---> 2 C2H5OH + 2CO2
Sugarcane juice Yeast Ethanol
It contains local botanical ingredients, mainly
· Glutinous rice – Oryza sativa
· Bubud or Yeast Complex - Saccharomyces spp.
· Duhat –Syzygium cumini
· Kamachile – Pithecolobium dulce
· Samat – Macaranga tenarius
Raw Materials
The principal raw materials are as follows:
1. Upland Sugar - The main ingredient is cooked sugarcane juice, with no adulteration. Baume reading should not be lower that 15 degrees depending on sucrose content and variety of the cane.
2. Glutinous Rice - Glutinous rice increases concentration since starch is polysaccharide. Through hydrolysis, it is broken into simple sugars.
3. Bubod or Yeast Complex - This is prepared from pure culture in the laboratory consisting of several strains of yeast.
4. Purified or Spring Water - The jars are thoroughly cleaned and sterilized. Purified, deep well or spring is used.
Sukang Iloko
Sukang Iloko, sour basi. Vin egar means sour wine. This means that basi, like any wine, spontaneously turns into vinegar when oxidized with the aid of beneficial microorganisms. Thus, the equation will lead to oxidation or acetification (vinegar formation).
C2H5OH + O2 Acetobacter -----> CH3COOH + 2H2O Sukang Iloko
As shown in the two equations above, the two products – wine and vinegar - are integrated. The dual process can be extended to the production of Nata de Coco as a third product.
The formula is applicable in the production of other wine and vinegar products from fruits, grains and root crops. Thus wine and vinegar making has good potential as an enterprise.
Manufacture of Basi
1. Cleaning and Sterilization - The jars are thoroughly cleaned. This takes three weeks, with the water changed three times, once every week. Sterilization is by the use of boiling water followed by direct sunlight exposure.
2. Brewing - Cooked sugarcane juice is poured into the sterilized jars including the botanical ingredients, bubud (yeast complex) and glutinous rice. Fermentation takes place immediately and increases in rate until the eight day. Thereafter brewing declines. The sediments are removed and the jars are closed, and are ready for ageing.
3. Ageing - The jars are hermetically closed and sealed with termite earth, an innovation of the author.. They must be kept in a dark cool place away from insects and any kind of disturbance. Ageing mellows the wine giving it the desired aroma, bouquet or body, color, taste, and other qualities. The wine matures in 10 to 12 months. Premium basi is aged longer, to 10 years.
4. Bottling and Packaging - Long-neck glass bottles with 750 ml content are obtained from suppliers of recycled bottles. Smaller bottles contain 250ml and 500 ml. The bottles are thoroughly cleaned and sterilized under direct sunlight. The bottles are directly filled up with the harvested wine after undergoing laboratory test (percent alcohol and acidity) and organoleptic test (taste, color, bouquet, etc.).They are capped, sealed, and labeled. and placed in brown bags and in carton boxes..
Manufacture of Sukang Iloko
1. Cleaning and Sterilization - The procedure is the same as that in the preparation of jars in basi making.
2. Brewing- Oxidation - Cooked sugarcane juice together with the botanical ingredients, yeast complex and mother liquor (inoculant) are poured into the sterilized jars. Vinegar formation or acetification accompanies the formation of ethanol. It means that the wine is oxidized to form acetic acid. This dual process takes place spontaneously and simultaneously in the presence of natural fermenters, such as the fruit fly, Drosophila, that carries a beneficial bacterium, Acetobacter aceti. The filtrate is then separated from the sediments, and placed in another jar in which it then undergoes ageing.
3. Ageing - Vinegar matures in 4 to 6 months, shorter than that in ageing wine. During the process, residual sugar undergoes secondary fermentation and acetification. This is why natural vinegar improves with time. (Artificial vinegar, on the other hand, loses acidity after prolonged exposure.) Ageing makes the product mellow, improves color, taste and other qualities.
4. Bottling and Packaging - The same procedure in basi is followed, except that the label is simpler or as specified by the buyer. For both products, laboratory tests are conducted in order to maintain quality standard. For vinegar, microbial count, acetic acid, and residual sugar are measured.
Production-Marketing Setup
San Vicente, Ilocos Sur, is three kilometers from Vigan, the provincial capital, 408 km from Manila. This town is the center of the once flourishing basi and vinegar making industry before and during the Spanish times. It is also the site of the Basi Revolt of 1807. Revival of the industry carries the imprimatur of history and the original basi. For the local needs of the area, both products are packaged and retailed to meet the local demand in Vigan and Laoag, two tourists spots. Among the principal buyers is the Ilocano balikbayan.
One of the 14 paintings depicting the Basi Revolt of 1807 by Esteban Villanueva
Facilities, Equipment and Materials
1. Cellar and Working Area - The ground floor of an old brick house in San Vicente, Ilocos Sur, serves as cellar, office and working area. It houses a small office and basic laboratory tools. It has ready accessible to the sources of raw materials, buyers and transport facilities.
2. Jars (Fifteen-liter capacity) - Burnay or earthen jars are made in Vigan. The net content of each jar can fill up 50 long necked bottles of 750 ml, the standard packaging of both products. Old jars can be procured from former brewers in the locality.
3. Laboratory equipment - The principal tools are high resolution compound microscope, refractometer, sugar hydrometer, pH meter, and accessories such as weighing scale, beakers and test tubes. Analyses and experiments involving sophisticated equipment like chromatograph and distilling apparatus are conducted in cooperation with research institutions like the Food Development Center and DOST. Similar linkages with local institutions in Manila and Vigan can be arranged.
Basi and Sukang Iloko are displayed in tourists shops in Vigan. The labels of Rotor Basi carry the series of paintings and synopsis of the Basi Revolt of 1807. Other bottles depict historical places and events in the Ilocos Region. There are dozens of such historic labels, that make a fine collection of the product.
Quality Control
Quality control starts with the choice of variety of sugarcane, its cultivation, maturity and crop stand. Too much nitrogen fertilizer is not advisable. Upland sugarcane is desirable. Thus, in cultivating the crop, recommended agronomic requirements must be followed. Only the best sugarcane should be used for basi while inferior canes, such as those affected by drought or typhoon are used for vinegar making.
The key to product quality is in the three stages of manufacture: formulation, brewing and ageing. The entrepreneur must have a good knowledge acquired through training to augment basic chemistry and microbiology. It is in this stage that laboratory analysis is regularly conducted to generate these data.
· · Percent sugar (15 %)
· · Activity and cell count of the yeast (fast acting multi-strain/complex type)
· · Fermentation time (8 to 12 days)
Final Products
The ultimate control is in this stage which is composed of bottling, capping and sealing, labeling and packing. Consistency of product quality is of utmost consideration, not only for the whole shipment, but also in all sales in the future. This is to establish patronage (suki).
The entrepreneur must always have in mind to meet international standards. Food
Development Center,which is authorized by the USFDA, determines the quality of products exported to the US and its territories. Basi was confirmed by FDC to have passed the standard for sherry and port.
Small Scale Business Viability*
(Subject to adjustment and revision)
Under the present setup of the project, the direct cost in making a jar of basi which is equivalent to 50 bottles (750 ml) is P2500. This means that the production cost per bottle is P50. Fifty bottles is the net yield per jar. This volume allows margin for breakage, leaching, and spoilage, including taste test and samples.
Premium sugarcane juice makes up 26.3 percent of the direct cost. Packaging materials which include bottles, labels, caps, seals and boxes, comprise the biggest cost which is 40.4 percent. Depreciation cost of jars, infrastructure, facilities and equipment like pH and Baume meters, and sealer, makes up 15.8 percent, while marketing and direct labor cost make up 20 percent.
The gestation period of basi is from 10 to 12 months, which means that brewing and ageing time takes almost a year. It is in the second and third year that regular sale takes place, peaking in summer and Christmas season. Computed wholesale selling price is P150 per bottle, thus the net income is P100. For an economic volume of 5000 bottles, the total net income is P500,000 per year.
For vinegar, the direct cost is P1000 per jar or P20 per bottle of 750 ml. The biggest cost is spent on packaging (glass bottles, caps and seals) which is 37.5 percent. Cane sugar is 31.5 percent, while marketing and direct labor make up 25 percent. If the selling price is P30, the net income is P10 per bottle, or 50 % ROI. The economic volume is at least 5000 bottles a year. A successful entrepreneur supplied these figures. Like any business the prospect of improving profitability is based on carefully studied economics of scale.
With the current business climate in the Philippines there are many risks entrepreneurs face - from the crunching effect of currency devaluation to open competition brought about by the world’s order on trade liberalization since the passage of WTO-GATT whose inequitable workings are a disadvantage to Third World countries.
How a fledgling industry survives, more so as it rises from the ashes of a colonial past, which with it had virtually died, is beyond imagination of a businessman who is looking at any bright prospect. But business has many challenges, beyond time, money, and the many opportunities to get rich. Would not an enterprise consider values, beyond economic parameters, such as reviving a rich culture, reliving history, touching fervors of faith and pride in a people? ~
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Basi and Sukang Iloko project proposal wins Business Idea and Development Award (BIDA 2001), sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Trade and Industry, Republic Planters Bank, and the Small and Medium Industry Council.
Rotor Basi won the distinct Business Development Development Award (BIDA) in 2000. The prize inspired the revival of a sunset industry in the Ilocos Region. Left photo, the late former administrator Jesus T Tanchanco (right) of the National Food Authority and Mrs Alice Tanchanco pose with the author after receiving the BIDA Award. Right photo, members of the winning team receive the cash award from BIDA, a joint project led by DOST and DTI (Small and Medium Industries), Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), and Planters Bank of the Philippines.
* 2010 analysis, subject to adjustment based on present situation, such as inflation rate, government policy, market conditions - and socio-economic upheaval both local and global brought by the current Coronavirus Pandemic. A review and update on the economic viability of the enterprise is therefore necessary.
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