MANILA - In wine there is truth, as the old saying goes. In a little corner of Sagada, wine is also about honesty.

Piitik Wines is a local shop that offers wines made from rice as well as local fruits such as bugnay, persimmon, guyabano and blueberries. It has a small kiosk by the side of the town’s main road where people can take a sip for a small fee.

A small half cup of wine sells for P20, while a full cup is P40.

But there is no one at the wine kiosk to receive payment; there’s just a box where people can drop money. The wine station relies on the honesty of passersby and tourists, and according to the owner, honesty isn’t such a lonely word, at least in Sagada.

“It works,” said Egbert Dailay, who started Piitik Wines in 2004.

Dailay said he believes in the honesty of people. Tourists who visit Sagada, he said, are generally honest.

“Otherwise, if it didn’t prosper, I can say [something] negative about it,” Dailay said.

At the end of the day, when he calculates how much he earns from the honesty wine station compared to how much wine he poured into the jugs, the earnings “are okay,” he said.

Dailay said that some tourists seem to even pay extra as a “tip” to the wine shop.

But Dailay said testing people’s honesty was not what he had in mind when he set up the honesty wine station. He just wanted people to taste his wines. If they liked it, they could come to the bar he set up at the back of the building to drink some more.

Tourists buy wine based on how attractive their bottles and packaging look. But Dailay said he wanted to try a different approach.

“Sa akin naman, to compete, I rely more on the taste.”

To taste is to believe, he said. This way, tourists can also select which wines they prefer.

“Pag nasanay ang dila mo sa sweet, mas sweet ang gusto mo,” said Dailay. Europeans meanwhile prefer the drier varieties.

“Piitik” comes from the local practice of pouring a bit of wine or other alcoholic drinks into the ground as a kind of offering to the spirits, he said.

“Parang communication mo to Mother Earth and to those who have gone ahead of us.”

“You spill a little to Mother Earth and say thanks,” he added.

Sagada, Mountain Province is known for its spectacular mountainscapes and cool weather. This small town in the heart of the Cordilleras attracts tens of thousands of tourists each year seeking a respite from the hectic pace of city life and the humidity of the lowlands.

With Piitik wines, Sagada also offers a breather from everyday dishonesty, along with a pleasant fruity buzz.

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