Merkado: RLGV Fruit Wine – From Backyard Brewing to Regional Pride

Lorelie G. Valdez’s story is as rich and bold as her bignay wine. What began in 2014 as a personal passion—creating therapeutic fruit wine for her husband—soon evolved into a purposeful business. Instead of letting surplus local fruits go to waste, Lorelie began turning them into handcrafted wine, one bottle at a time, using native ingredients like bignay, mango, and tropical fruits.

With support from her LGU in Alicia, Isabela and the DTI Region 2, RLGV Fruit Wine grew beyond the backyard. DTI provided vital assistance in branding, labeling, trade fair exposure, and even securing FDA registration. This support helped transform RLGV into a proudly regional SME, now slowly gaining attention on national and global stages.

But RLGV is more than just a business—it’s a social enterprise. Lorelie works closely with local farmers, sourcing fruits directly from their harvests and ensuring that even overripe produce is repurposed into fruit vinegar, minimizing waste and maximizing income for the community. It's sustainability in a bottle.

Beyond that, RLGV’s wines are bursting with natural antioxidants—especially bignay, known for its health benefits—making each sip both indulgent and guilt-free (well, almost 😄).

And now, the brand is getting noticed not just for its story, but for its versatility. At the recent Philippine Wine Mixology National Food Fair, RLGV proudly showed off how their wines can be remixed into next-gen party drinks like the Bignay Wine Spritzer, Guyabano Wine Mojito, Duhat Wine Sangria, and Mango Wine Margarita.

From small beginnings to standout showcases, RLGV is proving that local flavors, when crafted with care and community in mind, can go far—and taste amazing doing it.