So post Soomy village, we took a two hour drive (aka nap) after lunch to Sanmeoru Farm (산머루농원) in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. Most of us were really excited because it was a farm that grows grapes and which produces wine made from those grapes. Since Korea is traditionally known for its rice crop, most traditional Korean alcohol are made from rice (both glutinous and non glutinous). The two most well known rice based Korean alcohol are of course soju (소주) and makgeolli (막걸리), but today wine is slowly but surely becoming a popular choice with Koreans too. The grape farm that we visited is one such farm that produces 100% Made In Korea wine :)
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| This wall mural very nicely captures the Korean essence of the winery. |
Our Korean winery experience began with the staff showing us how to bottle wine as well as explaining to us the process of how grapes are selected and then fermented. There are two rounds of selection to weed out the grapes that have gone bad, then to separate the grapes that are riper (since they make sweeter wine with that as they have a higher sugar content)
We all tried our hand at the three step process of bottling wine: bottling, corking and sealing.
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| Me filling up the bottle (and trying not to produce too much air bubble foam- hence the angle). |
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| Then sealing it once I completed the corking process. A foil is placed over the mouth of the bottle then an industrial hairdryer (?) is used and the hot air emitted causes the foil to mould itself nicely to the bottle mouth. |
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| Doing my best top model pose while half sitting on a barrel. |
After making our own bottle of wine, we took a tour of the cellar! In it were barrels and barrels of wine that was still in the barrel, waiting to be bottled after 10, 15 or 20 years of barrel ageing. Barrel aging gives the wine a more subtle oak flavour (instead of barrel fermentation)!
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| The entrance to the cellar! |
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| On the inside! |
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| With one of the barrels... :) Upclose! |
There were many oohs and ahhhs as it was our first time inside a cellar, and to be able to roam the aisles and look at the many many barrels (some of which are *almost* as old as I am) was a very unique experience.
After the cellar, we adjourned to the next building where the kitchen was and it was time for making grape/wine related products!
First up: SOAP MAKING! ^.^
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| Grape concentrate + alcohol spray + orange essence +mittens |
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| Melt soap base in a metal jar! |
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| Pour melted soap base into the paper cups and stir so that grape concentrate is well mixed. Add as much orange essence as desired:) |
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| Pour soap mix into the moulds (first spray moulds with alcohol spray- it helps the solid soap bar to slide out of the moulds more easily!) and take a group picture to prove it:) |
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| TWO HOURS LATER... :) |
NEXT UP:
CHOCOLATE MAKING! :D
I was excited to try it as chocolate DIY is very popular with Korean girls. It is a very popular gift for boyfriends (as exemplified in Korean dramas...), especially because most girls are not that great at cooking. Making your own chocolates then is a fail proof way of making a handmade gift that looks and taste great!
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| Melting the chocolate in a pot of hot water |
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| Various garnishes for our chocolates |
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| And we are done! |
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| Once again, a group picture as proof! |
On the whole, it was not a complicated process. The trickiest part was probably squeezing the melted chocolate into the mini paper holders as they sometimes come out in spurts because of the air bubbles inside. The trick is to give the piping bag a good squeeze to expel all the air before cutting the tip to squeeze the chocolate out.
And then finally.... JAM MAKING <3
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| Bubbling away... our concoction of blended and filtered grape concentrate + ALOT OF SUGAR :O |
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| Pouring the goodness into mini jars for us to take home! |
Jam making was the most fuss free of the three and also my favourite because it is VERY DIFFERENT FROM COMMERCIAL FACTORY MADE JAM :) It was still liquid-y even after it was cooled in the fridge- no jelly like texture like the jams you can buy in the supermarket. Also, no preservatives added, so plus one for healthiness.
Families will enjoy making this together very much as the kids get to be involved with the simple stirring and you can take home the mini jars of jam that you made together with love:)
Finally... when we finished cleaning up after an afternoon of cooking, OUR WINE LABELS CAME!! This is one of the pluses of the farm experience- you get to bring home customised souvenirs from your trip! So here's a bottle of wine, the one and only in the world, with MY FACE ON IT. And yes, product of Korea.
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| Tadaaaaa~ |
We then proceeded into the adjacent hall for wine tasting. No pictures because, well, I was busy tasting everything. I did however, manage to snap a picture of my favourite one! Look how awesome the packaging is- it comes with two tiny wine bowls (similar to makgeoli cups) for you to drink it in.
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| Or you can consume the wine that you bought on one of the outdoors benches! |
And finally, here is one last picture with the staff who accompanied us throughout our trip and who did all the explaining! Thank you~
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