While taking her diploma course in the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), her wine class instructor pulled her aside and told her that she should seriously consider it as a career. Naturally charming and engaging, it would have been a waste to contain her large personality and talents inside the kitchen. After coming home armed with her CIA diploma, chef Jessie Sincioco asked her to fix her wine program and she would work the dining room recommending wines with dishes.

Taking the advice from friend Raphael Santos—head sommelier of two Michelin-starred San Francisco restaurant, Acquerello—Gigi took a leave of absence and did an intensive sommelier course in California. “I decided I had to make it official so people would take me more seriously,” she says. She passed both her Court of Master Sommelier, Introductory and Certified Sommelier Tests, but not without difficulty. “Memorising wine terms was nothing to me. The hardest part was blind tasting since I’ve never done it before. I was very hard on myself but the master sommeliers who were my professors were very patient with me and told me not beat up myself after every blind tasting test. Eventually, I got better and eventually managed to land blind tastings in class even with a cold.”

See also: A Taste Of Home With Sommelier Paula De Pano

Back when Poblacion was at its peak, Makati’s trendiest district was the perfect breeding ground for unique, hole-in-the-wall establishments that truly embodied the people behind them. One such gem was the now-defunct Yoi, the restaurant and sake bar owned and operated by Tadeo Chua. The cuisine was both times traditional Japanese in its precision, yet modern and fresh. It was meant to pair with the sake menu that Tadeo has curated from his time living in Japan studying to be a sake sommelier.

How does one become so enamoured by Japanese rice wine (which is actually brewed, not fermented like traditional wine) that one leaves the country to take courses in the Sake Sommelier Academy in Kyoto, and then interns in a sake brewery in Osaka? Like most 90’s kids hooked on anime, Tadeo first learned about sake watching Japanese animated shows. “Like most, I always thought that nihonshu or ‘sake’ was a very strong spirit because of how drunk my favourite characters in anime would get after a sip. I was pleasantly surprised to have found that my first bottle of sake is not as bad to elicit such exaggerated reactions from anime, and that it’s quite easy to drink.”

See also: Get Sake Sangria, Sake Martini, and Other Cocktails To-Go From Nikkei

Thus began his fascination with all things Japanese, including the food and tea. Like a stereotypical “salary man”, Tadeo fancied Japanese whisky when he was working at a bank. When he quit his job to become an entrepreneur, including opening his first Japanese restaurant, he fell In love with sake and thus began his journey. To this day, he admits he is still smitten. “It still amazes me how sake can have so much flavour without infusing anything into it, and of course how it can be paired with different cuisines,” Tadeo muses.

See also: 5 Native Filipino Liquors, Spirits, and Wine

When most people look at a bottle of wine, they see a drink. For Moët Hennessy brand ambassador Pilar Almario, it is like watching a fascinating story unfold. The bibliophile recalls being thrust into the world of wine around ten years ago, having always enjoyed a good pairing with a meal. “I found myself wanting to know the stories behind the wines I was drinking,” she explains. “I was captivated by the stories and details behind the wine I would drink. I wanted to know everything from the history, winemaking style, region, et cetera.”

See also: Wine In Metro Manila: 5 Wine Clubs And Subscriptions To Try

People close to Pilar noticed this growing passion for wine and they enabled it by feeding her insatiable curiosity. “I received a lot of wine books and I was always looking forward to the next book to read. I was also excited to open a good bottle with loved ones. I felt like it was a mini adventure each time.” She eventually enrolled in a wine-centric hospitality program and then took the certified level of the Court of Master Sommeliers, at the same time getting “some floor experience.” She found work in Singapore after that within the Les Amis Group that kept her in the city-state for three-and-a-half years.

When asked why she loves wine so much, even this bookish professional cannot help waxing poetic. “I believe that wine is alive and captures a moment in time. There is also a story behind each bottle. Some with rich and very long history, like some of my favourite Champagne houses where their history dates back all the way to the 18th century. One of my favourite parts of being a sommelier has let me share my knowledge and passion for wine with guests who are eager to learn. I am always very happy to be a part of their wine journey.”

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