Cop Hard-to-Find Wines at Wallet-Friendly Prices From This Small Shop in QC

Toka Wine
Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City
Contact: 7007-2685
Instagram: www.instagram.com/tokawine 
Open from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. (Monday to Wednesday), 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. (Thursday to Saturday), 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. (Sunday)

(SPOT.ph) You don’t often associate Quezon City with wine. This side of Manila has its fair share of dining and drinking spots for sure; think student-packed bars, hole-in-the-wall eateries, family-oriented chains, you name it. Places for the wine enthusiast, however, are rather limited. Sure, there are wine shops or delis that carry a good selection of essentials—but it can be a challenge if you’re looking to go beyond your classic chardonnays, champagnes, and cabernet sauvignons. There’s more to the world of drink after all. Enter Toka Wine—an unassuming shop along Katipunan that carries reasonably priced, great-quality contenders of reds, whites, and sparkling wines as well as harder-to-find bottles.

Also read: 10 Laid-Back Places for Great Wine in Manila

Go beyond the usual bottles at this neighborhood wine bar and wine shop:

Drive along Katipunan Avenue and you’ll find Toka Wine (pro tip, it’s right next to Lay Bare Waxing Salon) with its teal store sign; inside you’re met with white walls, Hanoi-cube patterned floor tiles, and wooden fixtures. A bar on the left side, its body painted forest green, invites you to take a seat and chat with the staff; alternatively you can settle down on one of the 20-seater’s tables. The eagle-eyed will also spot a painting bearing their moniker (a Filipino word often used to connote one’s contribution to, say, a gathering—your “toka”).

Though primarily a chill spot, Toka Wine’s main highlight is its wine cabinet displaying an array of bottles through its glass windows. Inside are whites, reds, sparkling wines and champagnes—many around or under the P3,000 mark, i.e. the sweet spot between mass-market and super-premium ends of the wine spectrum. “We want that middle ground… [of] wines that are not super low, not super expensive, but really good wines,” explains owner Butz Tenchavez. Toka Wine’s philosophy? To source from smaller, family-run wineries—wines of whom aren’t otherwise easy to find in Manila. Focus is also put on organic or biodynamic wines, the former referring to wines without fertilizers or chemical products, and the latter being similar in concept but also involving factors like following the cosmic calendar.

Tenchavez explains that Toka Wine was initially established as a retail counterpart for online shop Gran Hacienda Wines, which he also owns. As of writing, only Vermouth can be had by the glass and the rest is only available for purchase by the bottle. But you can opt to do the latter and enjoy it in the shop (note that there’s a 10% service charge) while Tenchavez and the team explain the stories and methods behind your bottles of choice.

For the most part, Toka stocks bottles from Chile, South Africa, and Portugal. We begin with Vadio Bruto (P1,900/bottle), a sparkling wine from Bairrada, Portugal that uses baga and bical grapes local to the wine region. Deep golden (almost copper) in color, it makes a sprightly impact on the tongue with a citrusy, nutty warmth—think mandarins and marzipan. Worth noting, too, is its distinct depth that brings to mind dried figs, which the author associates with sherry wine. Tenchavez reveals the possible reason for this: the winemaking procedure for this bottle involves solera, the same technique used for sherry. That is, to age wine by topping it up with fresh wine every year. “That’s why there’s a profile na medyo mature,” he says.

“There’ s a certain style to the wines that I like,” Tenchavez shares. Key points in his book are freshness, or the quality of having the right acidity (“‘di lang flat na puro fruit or kahoy or oak”); and balance, or the deeper (typically non-fruit) flavors to balance out the acidity; think vegetal or herbal notes. The Jose Antonio Garcia Godello Viñas Viejas (P1,900/bottle)—a white wine from a Spanish winery run by a husband-and-wife team, with godello grapes also native to the country—well exemplifies this. The acidity part of the equation is a lemony brightness that illuminates each sip, while a toastiness (similar to the crispy bits at the bottom when you cook rice!) and floral, musky notes round the lemon’s vivacity out.

Austria, ICYDK, also has its share of superb wines, many made with grüner veltliner grapes said to grow almost only in the country. Consider the Nittnaus Manila Grüner Veltliner (P1,700/bottle), a biodynamic wine named as such as a tribute to the Filipino-Austrian who owned the vineyard before it was claimed by the Nittnaus family. Worth noting, too, is that this is a skin-contact (also called orange) wine, or white wine made with the grape skins intact (as you would a red)—resulting in a slightly hazy, marigold tone. A sip reveals a tannic but relatively full body (almost like a red), and a tropical profile that evokes ripe langka to the author. It concludes with a subtle funk, not unlike what you get in kombucha—likely due to its being a natural wine. “It’s organic and in the cellar, meaning less sulfur, which is basically preservation for wines,” says Tenchavez.

Another reason to drop by the spot for dine-in? Toka’s short but sweet dine-in menu of nibbles that are perfect matched with their wines. The Portugese Sardines on Toast (P350) is an excellent match with white or sparkling wines, with its simple but satisfying combo of plump sardines plus lemon aioli and zingy coriander leaves on toasted sourdough. With heartier whites, you’ll want to try the Truffle Gnocchis (P420)—i.e. the Italian potato dumplings in an aromatic cream sauce tinged with truffle. And for bolder reds, there’s the Artisanal Sausage with White Beans (P450). This homey plate has Cumberland sausage, pan-seared and served over a stick-to-your-ribs bean stew brightened with chimichurri.

Dessert, too, can very well be given the wine-pairing treatment. Consider the Chocolate and Black Sesame Tart (P270); within its tart shell is a velvety chocolate ganache underlined with black sesame for  that winning tandem of nutty and bittersweet (“Think chocolate and peanut butter,” Tenchavez quips). And to go with it, we dive into the Villard Grand Vin L'Assemblage (P1,800/bottle). This Chilean red is a burly boy with a blend of mourvedre, petit verdot, shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, and merlot grapes for a deep, blackcurrant-esque character with a spiced warmth and sweetish tinge—akin to (though not quite as saccharine as) Port wine.

But this is just the beginning, and there’s plenty more to discover behind that wine cabinet. This is precisely what Toka Wine implores its customers (notably mostly made up of millenials) to do: to embrace the love of wine, and not be afraid to explore new horizons.

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