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South Korea’s ‘kimchi deficit’ hits record high

SEOUL — South Korea’s trade deficit in kimchi, its proud traditional side dish of fermented cabbage, reached an all-time high last year as low-priced Chinese imports flooded the market, statistics showed Wednesday.

The spicy foodstuff is emblematic of Korean cuisine and accompanies almost every meal served in the country, whatever its culinary origins, with kimchi-making still an important annual ritual for many families.

But the commercial market has been deluged by Chinese producers in recent years, resulting in what has been dubbed the “kimchi deficit.”

South Korea imported more than 275,000 tons of kimchi last year, 99% of it from China, the Korea Customs Service (KCS) said, and exported just over 24,000 tons.

The deficit stood at $47.3 million by value, up 11% year on year and the largest since the KCS began tracking the data in 2000.

Price is a major factor in the trade, with imports costing just $0.50 per kilogram in 2016 according to Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp., while exports — primarily destined for Japan — averaged $3.36 per kilogram.

According to South Korea’s World Institute of Kimchi, 89.9% of the kimchi purchased by South Korean restaurants in 2016 was imported from China.

The kimchi trade first went into deficit in 2006, triggering soul-searching and a headline-grabbing scandal.

UNESCO inscribed South Korean kimchi on its intangible cultural heritage list in 2013, saying: “It forms an essential part of Korean meals, transcending class and regional differences.

Kimchi-making “reaffirms Korean identity and is an excellent opportunity for strengthening family cooperation,” it added, and a reminder that human communities need to live in harmony with nature.

There are regional differences in the product, UNESCO added, and the specific methods and ingredients are considered an important family heritage, typically transmitted from a mother-in-law to her newly married daughter-in-law. — AFP

Deal for new alcohol tax stamps due Q1

THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and state-run firm APO Production Unit are set to sign a memorandum of agreement on the rollout of the new excise tax stamps for alcoholic beverages by the first quarter this year.

“I think they are still reviewing it, the BIR. But they target the signing in the first quarter, so I hope they are able to do it,” Finance Undersecretary Antonette C. Tionko told reporters on Friday.

The memorandum would make APO responsible for the printing of alcohol excise tax stamps. It currently handles the printing of cigarette tax stamps.

The implementation of the Internal Revenue Stamps Integrated System (IRSIS) for alcohol products was initially targeted for January, but Ms. Tionko said that deploying the system is more complex compared to tobacco items.

“It’s not like the cigarettes where packs are all the same. We have various sizes of bottles,” she said. 

Ms. Tionko added that beverages also have varying levels of alcohol content.

The BIR launched new excise tax stamps for cigarettes this year.

The Department of Finance expects to collect P56.23 billion from alcohol excise taxes for 2018, up 9.91% from a year earlier.

For tobacco taxes, it targets P126.97 billion this year, up 13.78%. — Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan

Best Endgame of 2017

The Chessbase Web site (www.chessbase.com) has announced the results of their poll on the 2017 Endgame of the Year. The Chessbase editors came up with a list of nominees and this was voted on by their members. Last Tuesday I wrote that Ding Liren’s victory over Bai Jinshi in the Chinese League ran away with the “Game of the Year” award. For “Endgame of the Year” though there were two games which were pretty close.

The Wesley So vs Baadur Jobava game from the World Cup finished 6th out of six nominees. I can’t figure it out — I thought it would be a strong contender.

At the end the “Frenchman with Two Names” Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won the award for his victory over World Champion Magnus Carlsen from the 2017 Sinquefield Cup. This will count as a double whammy, for the game enabled Vachier-Lagrave to win the tournament as well, half a point ahead of Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand.

Here is the close second-placer.

Nakamura, Hikaru (2785) — Giri, Anish (2771) [D80]
5th Norway Chess 2017 Stavanger (1), 06.06.2017

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Ne4 5.Bh4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 dxc4 7.e3 Be6 8.Qb1 b6 9.Nh3 Bh6 10.Bg5 Bxg5 11.Nxg5 Qd5 12.Nxe6 Qxe6 13.Qb4 Qd5 14.Qxc4 Qxc4 15.Bxc4

After this a quick handshake? No not yet. In fact Nakamura proves that White’s position is better — his bishop is superior to the knight and he has two available pawn levers: a2–a4–a5 and h2–h4–h5.

15…e6 16.Be2 Nd7 17.a4 Ke7 18.a5 c6 19.Kd2 b5 20.Rab1 Rab8 21.Rb2 f5 22.Rhb1 Kd6 23.f3 e5 24.c4 exd4 25.cxb5 cxb5 26.Bxb5 dxe3+ 27.Kxe3 Nf6 28.Bc4 Rxb2 29.Rxb2 Re8+ 30.Kd4 Re7 31.Rb8 Rd7 32.Rc8! Rb7 33.a6! Rb4 34.Kc3 Ra4 35.Kb3 Nd7 36.Bb5

[36.Kxa4? Nb6+ 37.Kb5 Nxc8 38.Bg8 h6 39.Bf7 (39.Bh7? Ne7 the bishop is stuck) 39…g5 40.g3 Ne7 Black holds]

36…Ra5 37.Kb4 Ra1 38.Rd8 Rb1+ 39.Ka5 Ra1+ 40.Kb4 Rb1+ 41.Ka4 Ra1+ 42.Kb3 Rb1+ 43.Kc4 Rc1+ 44.Kd3 Rc7 45.Kd4 Ke7 46.Ra8 Kd6 47.h4! Ke7?

The knight should have been moved to either b6 or g6 — the rook endgame is lost.

48.Bxd7! Rxd7+ 49.Ke5 Kf7 50.Rb8 Re7+ 51.Kd5 Kf6 52.Rb7 Re5+ 53.Kd4 Ra5 54.Rxa7 f4 55.Kc4 Ra2 56.Kc5 h5 57.Ra8 Rc2+ 58.Kb6 Rb2+ 59.Kc5 Rc2+ 60.Kb6 Rb2+ 61.Ka7 Rxg2 62.Rb8 Rf2 63.Rb6+ Kg7 64.Kb7 Rxf3 65.a7 Ra3 66.Ra6 Rb3+ 67.Kc6 1–0

You know what Magnus Carlsen’s style reminds me of? Perhaps many of you will disagree, but I always thought that the world champion closest to his style is Tigran Petrosian. What? You would say, but Petrosian is a drawing master, a champion of prophylaxis and dull games whereas Magnus is not! That may be true, but one does not become world champion without winning a lot of games. Did you know that Petrosian represented the USSR in the Chess Olympiad 10 times with an overall result of 78 wins, 50 draws and only one loss? A winning percentage of almost 80%!

Have you ever really studied the games of Petrosian to see how he wins games? He does not go for an opening advantage — a playable middlegame will do. Then, when he gets there, he just sits on the position and starts maneuvering, playing cat-and-mouse — threatening this and then threatening that until his opponent makes a mistake. After that he transposes to the endgame and pursues the win with perfect technique.

That is also the way Magnus Carlsen plays. The game that will follow is a perfect example of that, with one big difference — Magnus manages to create a big advantage out of nothing, but then errs. Now it is the Frenchman Vachier-Lagrave’s time to exhibit his deep tactical style — he always has a “drop of poison” in hand and Magnus falls into it. After that MVL shows his fantastic endgame technique and turns the game around. Best Endgame of 2017.

Carlsen, Magnus (2822) — Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime (2789) [A34]
5th Sinquefield Cup 2017 Saint Louis USA (4.1), 05.08.2017

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e3 Nxc3 6.dxc3

White’s main choice is 6.bxc3 and now 6…g6 7.d4 Bg7 8.Bb5+ with a full game ahead of us. The drawback of 6.dxc3 of course is that queens are exchanged and we usually get a dry game. A dry game of course is not automatically a draw! Probably Magnus, knowing that his opponent is a tactical monster, just wanted to fight on a turf which might be unpleasant for his opponent.

6…Qxd1+ 7.Kxd1 Bf5

Preventing a quick e4.

8.Nd2 Nc6 9.e4

White got in e4 anyway, but now his knight is on d2, blocking one of his bishops, so he has to spend a few moves to untangle.

9…Bg6 10.Bb5 Rc8 11.h4 h5 12.Re1 e6 13.a4 Be7 14.g3 0–0 15.a5 Rfd8 16.a6 b6 17.Kc2 Ne5 18.f4 Ng4 19.Kb3 f6

GM Robert Hess suggests here that, given the lack of scope of his two bishops, Black should vacate the c5–square for his dark-squared bishop with 19…c4+! followed by 20…Bc5.

20.Nc4 Nf2 21.e5 Ne4 22.Be3 Bf5

[22…Nxg3? 23.Rg1]

23.Rg1 Rd5 24.Rae1 Kf7 25.Bc1 Bh7 26.Re3

It is not clear how either side can make progress. This is the sort of situation for Petrosian/Carlsen to shine!

26…Rcd8 27.Bc6 Nf2 28.Re2

In such a closed position the rook is not better than a minor piece. After 28.Bxd5 exd5 29.Na3 Nd3 Despite being down the exchange Black’s piece activity in conjunction with his solid pawns give him the advantage.

28…Nd3 29.exf6 gxf6 30.Bb5 Rg8 31.Bd2 Rgd8 32.Be3 Be4 33.Rd2 Rg8 34.Ka4 Rgd8 35.Kb3 Rg8 36.Ka2 f5

Fortifying his bishop’s position on e4 but at the same time creating a hole on e5.

37.Rh2 Rc8 38.Rd2 Rg8 39.Re2

A move which doesn’t threaten anything but it leaves open the possibility of Black taking the pawn on h4. Should he or shouldn’t he? Take note that this is the 39th move and on the 40th move both players get extra time, so people don’t usually like to make a committal move before then as his opponent will have more than enough time to consider the consequences.

39…Bf3?!

Let’s see if Black should have taken the pawn on h4: 39…Bxh4 40.Rh2 Bxg3 41.Rxh5 Rg7 42.Rh8 Bxf4 43.Ra8 is unclear.

40.Rh2

Oops. It turns out that there is a hidden point behind 39.Re2. Now that the d2 square is free for the knight Black can’t retreat with the bishop back to e4: 40…Be4 41.Bc6 Rdd8 42.Bxe4 fxe4 43.Nd2 wins the e4 pawn.

40…Bf6 41.Nd2

Now the Black bishop has to go to g4 where it is out of play.

41…Bg4 42.Rf1 Rgd8 43.Nc4 e5 44.fxe5 Bxe5 45.Bg5 Bxg3 46.Rg2?

A mistake, throwing away the fruits of his labor. 46.Rd2! wins material as the d8–rook is threatened and there is no easy way to disengage. For example 46…Ke6 (46…Rc8 47.Nxb6! axb6 48.Bc4 ouch) 47.Ka1! (getting out of the checking range of black’s knight) 47…f4 48.Bxd8 Rxd8 49.Na3 winning the knight.

46…Bh3 47.Rxg3 Bxf1 48.Rf3?

Having thrown away the win now he throws away the draw. 48.Bxd8 Rxd8 49.Rf3 Be2 50.Rxf5+ the position is equal once again.

48…Be2

Now White realizes that his intended 49.Re3 is met by 49…f4! 50.Rxe2 Nc1+ and his rook falls.

49.Bxd8 Bxf3 50.Bxb6 axb6 51.Bc6 Be4!

MVL had to calculate this move very accurately as there is a real danger that the a6–pawn could queen.

52.a7 Rd8 53.Nd6+ Rxd6 54.Bxe4

White can queen his pawn by 54.a8Q but then 54…Rxc6 Black has more than enough for the queen.

54…Rd8 55.a8Q Rxa8+ 56.Bxa8 Ne5 <D>

POSITION AFTER 56…NE5

This is where the endgame begins. It requires very precise calculation and MVL is up to the task.

57.Kb3 f4 58.Kc2 Kg7!

Not 58…Ng6 59.Bf3.

59.Kd2 Ng6 60.Kd3 Nxh4 61.Ke4 f3 62.Ke3 Kf6 63.b4 c4!

This is why he gets the “Endgame of the Year” award. This is the only move to win. 63…cxb4 64.cxb4 Kf5 65.Kf2 Kg4 66.Bc6 Kf4 67.Bb7 Black’s knight cannot move without losing the f3 pawn.

64.Bd5 Kf5 65.Bxc4

White has to take time to capture the pawn, otherwise 65.Bc6 Kg4 66.Kf2 Kf4 67.Bd5 Nf5 68.Bxf3 h4 69.Bd5 Nd6 Black will use the h-pawn as a decoy and penetrate with his king to capture White’s queenside pawns.

65…Kg4 66.Kf2 Ng6 67.Be6+ Kf4 68.Bf7 Ne5 69.Bxh5 Nd3+ 70.Kf1 Kg3 71.Bf7 Nf2 0–1

After 71…Nf2 72.Be6 Nd1 to be followed by …f3–f3 and Ne3+.

What a titanic struggle! This is the sort of hard-fought victory after which you don’t want to go out to the city to celebrate. You would rather go up to your room, lie down in your bed and review the variations over and over in your head. And then you fall asleep with a big smile on your face. As the famous Tarrasch quote goes, chess like love, like music, has the power to make men happy!

 

Bobby Ang is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), he taught accounting in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) for 25 years and is currently Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies.

bobby@cpamd.net

Tacloban airport closed for runway repairs

THE CIVIL Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) announced yesterday afternoon the temporary closure of the Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport in Tacloban City for emergency repairs due to the “degradation of runway surface caused by continuous rain in the past weeks.” CAAP issued a Notice to Airmen on the airport’s closure starting 5:30 p.m on Jan. 17, to 9 p.m. today. Cebu Pacific, in a separate statement, said six flights, including those of Cebgo, to and from the Tacloban airport were cancelled and those scheduled today are also expected to be affected.

Ex-US Navy officers face negligent homicide charges over ship collisions

WASHINGTON — The commanding officers of two US Navy destroyers involved in deadly collisions last year in the Pacific Ocean face courts-martial and military criminal charges including negligent homicide, the US Navy said in a statement on Tuesday.

Filing charges against the officers marks the Navy’s latest effort to address the problems that led to collisions involving its warships in Asia, in which 17 sailors were killed. The Navy has already dismissed several senior officers, including the commander of the Seventh Fleet, as a result of the collisions.

Evidence supporting the charges against the commanders and several lower-ranking officers who served on the ships will be reviewed soon in investigative hearings, according to the Navy’s statement. “The announcement of an Article 32 hearing and referral to a court-martial is not intended to and does not reflect a determination of guilt or innocence related to any offenses,” the statement added.

The commanding officer of the USS John S. McCain guided missile destroyer, which collided with a merchant ship near Singapore in August, faces charges of dereliction of duty, hazarding a vessel and negligent homicide, the statement said.

The commanding officer and three other officers on the USS Fitzgerald guided missile destroyer, which collided with a Philippine container ship in June, face charges including dereliction of duty, hazarding a vessel and negligent homicide, the Navy said.

Results from Navy investigations released in November found that both accidents were the result of human error by sailors aboard the ships, but determined that no single person could be blamed for the accidents. Beyond the courts-martial, the Navy is conducting additional administrative actions for members of both crews, including non-judicial punishment for four crew members of each vessel, according to the Navy statement. — Reuters

Why Facebook’s new move is not going to last

By Shira Ovide

It’s easy to imagine that powerful technology companies are all-knowing geniuses. Often, though, technology superpowers are merely a collection of mortals making best guesses in response to external threats or backlash. And when that doesn’t work, they try something else.

That’s a useful framing to understand the shake-up Facebook, Inc. disclosed last week. The company is trying to change behavior so people engage in less aimless scrolling through their streams of posts and more meaningful interaction. Only time will tell whether Facebook’s changes will achieve the company’s goals and whether its goals are worth pursuing.

But it’s already clear that Facebook is rebooting itself because those who run the company are deeply worried. Yes, they’re worried about damaging people who are wallowing in a Facebook cesspool. But they’re also worried about potentially lasting damaging to the franchise after more than a year of headlines about Facebook’s use as a tool for uncivil conduct or worse, attempted voter manipulation and entrenching despots.

This all hews to Facebook’s pattern of changing its priorities — and taking its users and partners along for the ride — when it’s under pressure. And then it dumps those priorities when the heat fades, when the changes do more harm than good or when other external threats become more dominant.

If you don’t believe me, take a trip into Facebook history. The company started out as a digital meeting place for friends, family and acquaintances, but that began to change a few years ago in response to the threat from Twitter, Inc. I know, that seems hard to imagine.

But Twitter was scary because everything there could be seen by the world in real time. That helped it become the place where politicians posted videos announcing their candidacy, where fans trash-talked a football team live during the Super Bowl and where people got an up close look at world events such as the Arab Spring protests.

So a few years ago, Facebook rewrote its own rule book to amp up the volume of these in-the-moment activities and other “public content” — posts and video from politicians, celebrities, news organizations and other groups. It encouraged public figures to use Facebook, especially for Web videos, and the company’s computer systems prioritized their messages above those of friends and family. Facebook allowed social network posts to be inserted into other Web sites to encourage messages to spread more widely.

Facebook changed into a mix of baby photos, news, gossip and viral videos. Facebook celebrated when the Ice Bucket Challenge, a stunt for charity, spread like wildfire in the summer of 2014. It was a sign that Facebook was no longer completely ceding real-time and public conversation to Twitter.

And then came the backlash. It turned out the Ice Bucket Challenge was inescapable on Facebook, and big news happening at the same time — notably the civil rights protests in Ferguson, Missouri — was far less visible. What did Facebook do? It corrected its priorities.

The company reordered the stream of posts to emphasize “timeliness” — news over more evergreen ice buckets, for example. It started a feature to show “trending news” handpicked by humans rather than computers to ensure that people found important information on Facebook. You can predict what happened next. Backlash again. Facebook took heat in 2016 for reportedly excluding right-leaning news sources from its approved news categories. Facebook was chagrined, and trending news was gutted.

ARE YOU DETECTING A PATTERN?
This short history shows Facebook’s fixes to problems sometimes need fixes of their own. And note that the changes Facebook is making now to double down on “meaningful interactions” are the opposite of the changes it made to counter Twitter’s rising influence. Back then Facebook fixed itself by doubling down on public content. Now the fix is less public content.

I’m not saying Facebook shifts gears repeatedly to be malicious, or even that its continual tinkering is bad. Companies should change priorities quickly when business and social needs dictate. I believe CEO Mark Zuckerberg when he says, as he did last week, that he wants Facebook to be a force for good. Whether he is capable of doing that, or taking the right steps to do so, are a different matter.

Facebook always has high-minded principles behind the changes it makes, but it’s important to see the full context. Like any organism, Facebook responds to external stimulus and then responds again — perhaps back in the original direction — to the next external stimulus. And it doesn’t necessarily know what it’s doing.

This is what all humans and human-run organizations do, of course. But it’s useful to remember that nothing at Facebook is permanent, not even its principles. That means Zuckerberg’s current clear-eyed worldview and his shake-up of Facebook’s strategy may not stick. — Bloomberg

 

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Davao City council approves tax incentives for parking space investors

LAND OWNERS and property developers who will invest in parking facilities in Davao City will now be able to avail of tax incentives after the city council approved the ordinance that seeks to address the traffic congestion in the city. “We want to encourage property owners in the city to develop parking facilities that will help decongest traffic and address the increasing number of vehicles in the city,” said Vice-Mayor Bernard E. Al-ag, who chairs the council. Mr. Al-ag said the ordinance is aligned with the proposed resolution that will prohibit car parking along certain streets. He also noted that there are still numerous properties at the city’s commercial district that have remained unused, which could be developed into car parks. Under the ordinance, the city will provide a two-year exemption from the payment of real property tax for all the lands qualified as a preferred area for the car park investment. The construction of a parking building or facility on the qualified land will also have a five-year tax exemption for the structure and business taxes. The ordinance, however, excludes from the incentives parking spaces required under the National Building Code of the Philippines. — Carmencita A. Carillo

PLDT to appeal DoLE order to regularize workers

PLDT, Inc. on Wednesday said it will appeal anew the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DoLE) order for the telecommunications giant to provide regular employment to around 7,000 contractual workers.

In a statement, PLDT said it has received its copy of the Jan. 10 Resolution issued by Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III, which rejected the company’s appeal of a July 3, 2017 order to regularize employees and settle their unpaid benefits.

PLDT said it will file a motion for reconsideration within the 10-day prescribed period.

“The Resolution reduces (a) the number of workers ordered to be regularized by PLDT to 7,416 (from 8,720 previously); and (b) the monetary liability of PLDT and its contractors to P66.3 million (from P78.2 million),” the company said.

However, PLDT noted the resolution failed to address the  “fundamental jurisdictional and due process issues raised by PLDT and 41 of its contractors in their Appeals to the Office of the Secretary.”

In its July 2017 order, the DoLE ordered PLDT regularize employees of 17 companies found to be engaged in labor-only contracting. These companies included SPi CRM, Inc., Activeone Health, Inc., Archon Consulting and System Services, Inc., and Hibizcom Corp.

The DoLE order also asserted that PLDT and 48 of its contractors did not fully pay monetary benefits to some workers totaling around P78.6 million, and noted PLDT violated DoLE Order no. 18-A on contracting-out, which means the telco giant should issue regular employment positions to around 8,720 contractual workers.

In its appeal, PLDT questioned what it says was an absence of evidence and the use of “template findings” by the DoLE for these conclusions; DoLE’s disregard of PLDT’s and its contractors’ evidence; and “erroneous computation” of the P78.6-million monetary award; and DoLE’s “violation of PLDT’s and its contractors’ due process rights.”

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Patrizia Paola C. Marcelo

Disgruntled Cavs

The news that the Cavaliers are disgruntled comes as no surprise. The news that not a single one of them wants to go on record to say they’re disgruntled also comes as no surprise. In each of the last seasons, the wine and gold have faced adversity. And in each of the last seasons, they’ve gone on to secure Finals berths, even coming up a championship via the biggest come-from-behind campaign in National Basketball Association history. So to publicly argue that they’re not as confident in their capacity to hurdle obstacles this season is tantamount to admitting their Hyde side is winning, and perhaps for good.

Confidence can be fleeting. Through a long, arduous regular season, any team not named the Warriors will have ups and downs, and the key to success is to understand that the forest is more important than the trees — and to therefore not be too high after wins and not too low after losses. Since James came back to the fold in 2014, the Cavaliers have learned to digest this fact. It’s why they managed to run roughshod over the rest of the East, and why, their underdog status notwithstanding, they’ve put up respectable stands with the Larry O’Brien Trophy on the line.

This year, though, the Cavaliers are hard-pressed to stay the course. A roster overhaul has negatively affected their competitiveness on the court and camaraderie off it. Established glue guys are gone, and in their place come new faces who admittedly bring unique sets of pluses, but who nonetheless need time to adjust. A pronounced predilection for experience over youth and injuries to key players haven’t helped. In the face of such upheaval, the current swoon has resulted in burdened bodies, overactive minds, and frayed emotions.

Still, the Cavaliers know they’ve got a trump card. Through all the tumult, LeBron James has been their one most important constant. It’s why their fingers are crossed they can once again right the ship. And it’s why they will not let their doubts permeate beyond off-the-record whispers in back rooms. Because to do so would be to cast aspersions on his capacity to lead. Because to do so would be to give up.

Make no mistake. The Cavaliers know their problems are real. The win streak that raised their profile was built through pronounced dogfights against supposed easy pickings. Meanwhile, they’re now being blown off stadiums by the very opponents they’re slated to see in the playoffs. Which has led them to be afraid, to be very afraid, of their immediate future. They still have time to change, but, given the way they’re thinking, they can easily get worse as get better.

 

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is the Senior Vice-President and General Manager of Basic Energy Corp.

The Titanic and underwater wine aging

WHEN CHAMPAGNE from the infamous sunken Titanic was recovered in 1985 — 73 years after the luxury ship went down on April 15, 1912 in the North Atlantic Ocean — wine enthusiasts and professionals were all excited to see how the wines survived.

The Royal Mail Ship (RMS) Titanic was the British luxury passenger liner that sank during its maiden voyage en route to New York City from Southampton, England, killing about 1,500 passengers and crew members. The Titanic is perhaps better known among our generation because of James Cameron’s disaster movie, the Oscar-winning box-office hit that catapulted the then relatively unknown actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet into Hollywood stardom.

THE 1907 AND THE 170+-YEAR-OLD VEUVE CLIQUOT CHAMPAGNES
The champagnes that were said to have been recovered in good shape from the shipwreck were the 1907 Heidsieck Gout Americain (or “American Taste,” a phrase used at that time to mean that it was a much sweeter version) champagnes. No published report had stated how many good bottles were recovered, but in 2004, six bottles of this batch were rumored to have been sold to a rich Asian collector for an undisclosed and presumably sinful amount. The secret of these champagnes’ drinkability would have been lost forever, but by coincidence, the same 1907 Hiedsieck champagnes were discovered and recovered from another sunken ship in 1998. The Swedish vessel Jonkoping, shipwrecked in 1916, carried a few thousand bottles of the same champagne, of which some hundred were retrieved by divers. These are from the very same champagne lot I saw being sold at the Atlas Bar in Singapore for a whopping S$190,700 (P7.6 million) per bottle, and which are also said to be available in other glitzy places like the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Moscow for $275,000 (P13.75 million).

The ridiculous price tag is obviously because of its rarity and historic value, but these champagnes, when opened and tasted by wine experts, were astoundingly not only drinkable, but very much alive, and — incredibly — still have the fizz inside, but with more complex flavors, developed presumably from its underwater aging.

In 2010, as reported by National Geographic magazine, divers found some 168 bottles (another source said 79 bottles) of 19th century Champagne in a ship which had sunk to a depth of over 50 meters deep in the Baltic Sea. Markings visible on the corks showed that these Champagnes were produced by Champagne houses Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, Heidsieck, and Juglar (already shut down in 1830s).

Not long after this discovery, Dominique Demarville, cellar master for Veuve Clicquot, was able to get his hands on some of their very old 19th century-made Champagnes. And trusting his impeccable knowledge of Champagnes and their Cliquot house style, and having read his comments that these 170-year-old Champagnes were still “sweet and fresh” made a convincing case that perhaps there is indeed aging potential underwater, not only for champagnes, but for still wines too.

True enough, Veuve Cliquot started experimenting with what it calls “Cellar in the Sea,” submerging 300 regular 750-ml. bottles and 50 magnums into the same Baltic Sea in 2016. This move was both symbolic of the 2010 discovery of its old vintage from the same site, but also for experimentation on the potential of underwater aging. Wine experts believe in the theory that consistent low temperature of below 5°C, constant pressure, and dark surroundings constitute near perfect conditions for wines to evolve slowly. Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin plans to monitor the underwater aging of these newly submerged wines for the next 40 years.

FAD OR NEW METHOD?
Champagnes were not the only bottles recovered from the many shipwrecks that happened throughout history — several still wines have been discovered too, but many were of less significance in terms of how old the recovered wines were, and from divers simply not reporting their underwater loot.

Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin was not the first winery to try this underwater aging (Raul Perez from the Rias Baixas DO in Spain may be the first winery to have done so in 2003, using wines made from the Albarino grapes), but they certainly were the most visible adopter such that it may push this small trend into a wider scale. Already a handful of wineries, small and medium sized ones, have been experimenting with this aging method and all were perhaps inspired by the Titanic discovery.

One of the most aggressive wineries to try underwater aging is Napa Valley’s Mira Winery. It is credited with being the first to use the term “aquaoir” — a portmanteau created from aqua (water) and the French viticultural term terroir. Aquaoir means the aging condition of the submerged wine and the ensuing effects of underwater temperature, depth, pressure, light or lack of it, stability, motion, etc. that come in this form of aging wine. The same Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon that is land-aged in a regular cellar is sold at $55 a bottle, while the underwater aged version (submerged for three months in Charleston Harbor in South Carolina), if available, is being sold for 10 times more or over $500. The press releases from a 2013 blind tasting of two Mira Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 vintage wines — comparing the underwater aged wine against the all-ground aged version — showed that the underwater aged wine seemed to have accelerated its evolution by around two extra years, making the wine more approachable than the all-ground cellared counterpart. Whether this was gimmickry or a real discovery of a new aging method, the higher price seemed justified.

Other than the perceived improvement in wine taste, the underwater aged wine’s price is quite hefty for a few other reasons — consider the labor intensive nature of dunking the wines (one has to hire professional divers), the correct use of metal cages and partitions and other equipment, and, of course, the huge risk and potential for losses due to salt water contamination and other foreseen and unforeseen damages. After all, we are still in the very early stage of studying the so-called aquaoir.

So many questions still need to be answered about underwater cellaring, like: If Mira wines accelerated with underwater cellaring, how could the Champagnes recovered from the shipwrecks survive for over a century? Do these two findings not contradict each other? Therefore, is underwater aging more for wine evolution or for wine preservation? So many unknowns still need answers.

Aside from the underwater cellaring done in France, Spain, and the US, it has also been done in Italy, Greece, and Croatia. Regulations — which really do not exist for this aging method — may also come in as political, social, and environmental groups may also soon be dipping their fingers into this subject. Will underwater aging become a norm? Only time can tell.

First I need to get my hands on some of these underwater-aged wines and taste them for myself. But on the theory alone, I am extremely tempted to do my own underwater cellaring with some of my younger wine collections. Perhaps in nearby Taal Lake where depths can reach 150 meters and be ideal for the positive effect of aquaoir. Retrieving these wines though may be another challenge…..

 

The author has been a member of the Federation Internationale des Journalists et Ecrivains du Vin et des Spiritueux or FIJEV since 2010. For comments, inquiries, wine event coverage, and other wine-related concerns, e-mail the author at protegeinc@yahoo.com. He is also on Twitter at twitter.com/sherwinlao.

Big push for halal products in Gulf states

THE Export Marketing Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will be developing more halal food products for export to markets like the Middle East.

Trade and Investments Promotion Group (TIPG) Assistant Secretary Abdulgani Macatoman told BusinessWorld that the country’s top halal export is processed tropical fruits to markets like Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei — which along with the Philippines are members of the East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).

Some exports also find their way to the Middle East.

The DTI is expecting halal exports of P1 billion this year, compared with P800 million in 2017.

“[Right now], we are developing pili nuts, desiccated coconut [for export] in the Gulf countries, the oil-rich countries in the Middle East. Those are who were targeting,” he added.

“[We’ll also do] halal textiles and fashion, like hijabs and leather goods.”

The DTI, which leads the Philippine Halal Board, has also set up the 100-hectare Asian Halal Center in Zamboanga City to further promote halal certification and trade.

Within BIMP-EAGA, the Philippine halal market has room to grow, Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said.

“[Our halal market] is not that small and it’s not that big either but we’re developing it,” Mr. Macatoman said. — Anna Gabriela A. Mogato

InstaPay platform rollout seen within next quarter

THE PUSH for electronic payments is expected to accelerate this year after industry players formalized arrangements with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), while work is under way for a new clearing house for real-time fund transfers.

BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla, Jr. said that banks and financial technology (fintech) players are working to roll out the InstaPay platform within the second quarter, which would be dedicated to processing real-time and small-value transactions across banks and e-money wallets.

The central bank targeted a first-quarter rollout for InstaPay, but this had to be pushed back amid technical issues that needed to be smoothed out for interbank transactions.

“We’re putting out a lot of our moral suasion and our prestige to get people who don’t normally want to talk each other because they are mortal rivals in the market,” Mr. Espenilla told reporters in a recent ambush interview.

“You (players) can cooperate in the clearing and settlement, but in the products space you can do your own thing — that’s the dialogue we are having.”

The InstaPay will clear electronic fund transfers (EFT) across banks and e-wallets in real time, focusing on low-value transactions worth below P50,000.

This would be the second automated clearing house after the Philippine EFT System and Operations Network (PESONet) was rolled out in November, which will process fund transfers in batches.

Meanwhile, the central bank announced that the BSP has entered into an agreement with the Philippine Payments Management, Inc. (PPMI) to serve as the industry-led body to facilitate clearing operations for digital payments.

The central bank signed a deal last Friday to recognize PPMI as the payment system management body for automated clearing houses, while the BSP will serve as the “primary overseer” of the platforms.

“The BSP and PPMI agreed to have a shared responsibility in monitoring new or emerging trends in the retail payment industry and to notify each other of any relevant information that would warrant appropriate action from either party,” the central bank said in a statement sent yesterday.

The deal also requires all financial firms to undertake “direct clearing activities” via the automated clearing houses under the PPMI’s watch, which will facilitate interbank payments and fund transfers.

All these efforts fall under the National Retail Payment System (NRPS) led by the central bank, with the goal of shifting cash-heavy transactions on to digital avenues.

The BSP targets to lift the share of digital payments to 20% of total transactions by 2020, coming from a measly 1% recorded in 2013. — Melissa Luz T. Lopez

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