Manny O. Wines pleases Asian and international palates

Manny Osmeña’s interest in wine began when he was travelling frequently to France and Europe for business. “I was never a person that has a high tolerance for alcohol. But when I travel, my customers in France, when they entertain me, they serve wine. And that is how I discovered that wine is not about alcohol, it is about aroma and texture."

“The aroma and texture of wine has an emotional effect. It always enhances our dining experience … when we are drinking with friends, the conversations, the bonding that comes with it. So, since then I started going really deep into exploring about wine.”

“I started looking at shops and going to wineries, understanding how the effect of the soil can really affect the taste of the wine. And how the weather can really make a good wine or really kill the wine for that particular year. And from that, I started collecting wines.

“My personal collection is now kept in Hong Kong and the Philippines. I was quite active at auctions for a while but now I don’t do that much anymore — I still do, depending on what’s up on the block so my collection can continue to build up.

“So, this is my encounter with wine at the beginning. And now, I am a producer.”

A fine art
Osmeña, or Manny O, as he is popularly known, says the idea of starting his own wine label started out in 2003/2004 when he was entertaining friends from different industries. His friends asked him why not start his own label as he has a gift in wine-food pairing.

“That’s really my gift. I guess because I hardly eat spicy and pungent food, I get my senses. And being a wine blender, I play with flavours. I can basically take flavours and put it in my imagination. Also, being a fairly obsessive person, I’m very focused on what I do. So, I thought it’s not a bad idea … it might become a business of love when I retire.

“I’ve been asked in many of my wine lectures around the world — in Macau, Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, the Philippines — ‘how can we know wine as much as you?’ I said, first, it takes a lifetime. Until today, I’m still learning and still challenging myself.

“Especially today, the global wine industry has really evolved. We have a lot of old-world wines being produced to become ‘newer’ and vice versa. So, I’m still learning. I always tell people to simplify how you’ll know wine.

“Wine makers and blenders continue to amaze us because it’s so competitive. Everybody tries to do his or her best. So first, we need a gift from God — the gift of senses. Second, we need to love — if we don’t have any love for wine at all, or even food, we’ll never be able to do the third thing: focus.

“It’s like, if we love a person, we’ll put in a lot of time and focus. We don’t want to get into an obsession because it becomes a dangerous zone.”

Manny O’s wines are currently being sold in six countries — Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Switzerland, Germany and the Philippines. It is also exploring partnerships in Singapore and the US.

Satisfying the Asian and global palates 

How does Manny O. Wines enter such a competitive market?

“When I chose to create my own brand of wines, I don’t compete with what is already existing and widely available in the market. I’m an old-world person. So that’s why all my wines are from the old world — France, Spain, Portugal and Italy.”

“Then, I studied the global market. The traditional wine-drinking market is flat. The growth market is really Asia. So, that’s where I come in — formulating the taste profile to pair with Asian and new global cuisines to fit the Asian and new global palates.”

What is the difference? According to Osmeña, the traditional wine-drinking country food has a lot of dairy; hence, the taste profile of the wine in order to pair with the food has to be slightly different. On the other hand, the Asian and global cuisines are literally dairy-free and very delicate, other than the spicy dishes. And by nature, most Asians are not fond of acidic or sour beverages.

Manny O. Wines has won 238 awards in 14 countries, including awards in wine and food pairing. It won a gold for the best wine pairing with chicken tikka, carrying off the trophy with his Spanish wine, Sumiller, at the Hong Kong Wine Competition in 2014. Other food-wine pairing trophies were for the best pairing with beef teppanyaki, sashimi, dim sum, braised abalone and Peking duck.

Be daring
What Asian cuisine is most challenging to pair wine with?

“I would not single out a cuisine. But as an example, I would say for Filipino food, the most challenging to pair with is the lechon — Filipino roast pig, though as a rule of thumb, literally anything bubbly could pair with the lechon. For Chinese food, braised abalone is very easy to pair. In fact, I even have a wine that pairs with hong tau sar — a Chinese red bean dessert.

“Our Sumiller won an award in Hong Kong in 2014 for this. It’s very hard to pair red wine and dessert, especially hot stuff like soup. In fact, I even used one of my red wines to pair with wagyu noodles.

“We do crazy stuff. We have to be daring. Today, in the market, we have to do something non-stereotypical, because the market is so crowded. If we do something crazy, people know you. That’s how we got into the market.

‘The reason I participate in global competitions so much is because I’m not from a traditional wine-producing family and being Asian, it’s a big challenge. So, the only way is to go into competition globally, get it blind-tasted and validated by professionals.

“In 2013, my bubbly Blanquette de Limoux won the gold medal in the Decanter competition. In the same year, our Bordeaux, which is the Bibulus ’07 vintage, won a trophy in Paris at the Vinalies Internationales 2013, which is an ISO 9001 competition.

“I would be happy just winning a gold medal; I wasn’t even expecting to win a trophy. Out of 1,036 red wine entries, I was No.1. This is a very important validation — it’s not me talking now; it’s them (the judges) talking. That’s why I have to go to the international circuit — to get this validation.”

According to Osmeña, white wines at the US$16 price range in the market usually would not taste good after three years. Manny O.’s white wines from Portugal and France last longer and taste better even in its fifth year.

“I want my white wine to be more creamy, a bit nutty, with a bit of honey taste, mainly on the nose but on the mouth too. It’s not sweet. That would be the wine I would drink.

“For that wine, I’d have Chinese dim sum with it. It’s an incredible combination. I used an older vintage to go into competition for this pairing because when it ages, because of my lees steering, instead of becoming bad, it becomes creamy, nutty and a little ‘fat’. Remember, Asian food is delicate … so the wine has to be a little fat to complement it; but if we have European food that is very fatty, we cannot have ‘fat’ wine.”

Pairing wine with charity works
“I started the hospital-on-wheels project after I saw the devastation of Typhoon Haiyan and the earthquake which followed within a five-week period. The Lord just laid a burden in my heart because I’m a person who loves to live a good life. I don’t squander, but the finer things in life, I love it. So, many brothers and sisters out there have lost their home and I felt that I had to do something.

“Very often, when we are so comfortable within our four walls, we fail to climb up the wall and look out at people who have absolutely nothing. I want this business to be sustainable. This is the reason I’m building the brand of Manny O. Wines as a social enterprise: 25% of what it makes will go to the charity work that we are doing.

“We’ve also finished building 160 houses in four communities for the victims in these areas. We are now delivering a livelihood project. We are giving fishing boats to those villagers living near the seaside. Additionally, we are hiring two social workers to teach them to be entrepreneurs.

“I always say to all of my friends that we are all very blessed. We have basically everything that we need. Not everything that we want, but everything that we need.

“I would like to encourage everyone to think about those who need hope in picking themselves up. And I can guarantee that the minute you start doing it, the fulfilment and satisfaction you get is entirely different than the satisfaction and fulfilment in making money.”