These I learned from two hours of wine talk and some readings: it?s the color of the grape skin that determines red or white wine, not the age that makes for taste, not the price that determines class

AS a true-blooded Filipino, I did not grow up on wine. When I was old enough to drink, I was introduced to gin, rum, beer, lambanog and later, as I visited the inside barangay (villages) of Mindoro Oriental, tuba. But never wine. Staple Filipino food like adobo or sinigang has been appreciated with water while fiesta fare was never complete without a bottle of Coke. When that famous Richard and Dawn ad came out (Remember: Regular? Diet. Regular? Diet!), the joke was that we could eat a whole lechon but be healthy with diet Coke.

Therefore wine, to me and the average Filipino, was never something that was culturally accepted as a drink to pair with food. It has always been a) associated with special occasions like birthdays, New Year, anniversaries or graduation; b) something suitable for ladies while the old men pull out their Johnny Blacks; and c) meant for the purpose of getting lightheaded and not for the purpose of adding flavor to food.

After college, when a friend who had gone to culinary school in France was apologetic during dinner for having served a ?69 instead of a ?65 of the bottle of wine she had, the rest of us less cultured plebeians just looked at her mockingly, especially the boys who probably would have appreciated a glass of tap water better.

Only later did I learn that wine must not deaden but instead heighten your senses. It is not meant for the end of the meal as you cap the night but during the meal as you test your steak. If you get it right, it should emphasize the flavors of the meal you are enjoying. And yes, this applies even to Filipino food.

Now which wine you must pair with what is something I?d understand, if I pay attention enough, by the time I turn 60. As of now, I cannot tell the difference between Monkey Bay and Manila Bay; between Dr. Loosen and Dr. Seusse and between Villa Wolf and Virginia Woolf. Well, maybe a little. But I can tell you some interesting things I learned recently which inspired this column:

I learned that white German fruity wines can be great with adobo. Try the 2005 Gunderloch Riesling. With something stronger in flavor, like tapa, you can try an ever sweeter German white called Gewurztraminer.

I learned that it?s the skin that makes a wine red or white although some winemakers mix white grapes with the skin of crimson ones. ... I learned that ?oakey?-tasting wines use barrels only from either France or America. ... I learned that ?kabinett? is a code that describes the wine as fruity but not sweet. ... I learned that there is no such thing as a crash course in wine. ... And most of all, I learned that an amateur wine drinker must not go to a wine tasting event in four inch heels!

I learned all of this from two hours of small wine talk with Mirko de Giorgi, the resident wine expert of the Mandarin Oriental. He makes you understand why wine is more than just a drink, telling his witness account of a winemaker going out into the field in the dead cold of winter just to pick the grapes at just the right time for their desired taste.

My resolution from this experience is to throw myself into the world of wines and truly understand it before I turn 40. A good place to start would be at Mandarin?s Wine and Spirits 2010 (June 4, 7 p.m. at the Mandarin Ballroom). It?s like a wine buffet with selections from several of the country?s top wine dealers. From Columbian Reserves to South African Limited Editions, it?s a great event for those who would want to at least expand their wine vocab beyond chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon.

Beyond that, there?s CAV and hopping from one wine deli to another: from the cheap (which does not translate to bad!) selections at Wine Depot to the more high brow selections of The Winery or Balducci?s.

Most importantly, there must be reading and travel involved. The Wine Spectator?s Ultimate Guide to Buying Wine is thicker than any law book I?ve ever read. (Seriously, it is thicker than the length of my entire pinky finger.) But it holds tasting reports from wine experts on wines produced from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Chile, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, Spain and the US.

By reading this you will be warned not to purchase a 2000 Burgundy (?The 2000 red Burgundies may disappoint aficionados of long-lived and complex Pinot Noirs...?); advised to purchase a 2000 Bordeaux over a 2001 (?2001 is largely overshadowed by its predecessor, the acclaimed 2000?); and encouraged to purchase a 2002 Riesling, whose ?vintage stands on its own as an excellent year.? Hence, another lesson: older is not necessarily better. And lastly, neither must you discriminate as to place. This book?s number one wine was not French but Californian: the 2001 Paloma Merlot Spring Mountain District, although the 2000 Chateau Cos-d?Estournel St.-Estephe from Bordeaux placed a close second.

So I may have grown up on Coca Cola but when my children (or my sister Goldee?s children) are old enough, I intend to be the aunt who serves Riesling with her adobo. ?