Today, the Korean alcohol market offers a wide range of choices, including not only Korean alcoholic beverages such as soju, beer, and traditional liquors, but also wine, vodka, and cocktails. Whereas in the past people drank just to get drunk, now they seek out delicious drinks that suit their tastes and pair them with food that suits their preferences. Join Winery, a premium handcrafted wine brand, offers unique wines made with ingredients grown in Icheon, such as strawberries, aronia, and blueberries. If you’re looking for something a little more “my wine” than the masses, Join Winery is a great choice. 

▲ Join Winery / CEO Muchung Jo

Premium wines made 100% by hand using ingredients grown in Icheon, the best region for quality fruit production

After more than seven years of research to create delicious wines that would satisfy the masses at an affordable price, Join Winery CEO Muchung Jo realized that wine is the liquor of a nation, which means that abundant, high-quality water resources are essential, as well as the characteristics of the region where the fruit is produced. He moved back to his hometown of Icheon three years ago and started a small winery, converting the landscape from rice fields to glucose, as it is ideal for producing quality fruit. Icheon is known for its high quality soil, lower average temperatures than other areas of the country, large weather variations, and plenty of sunlight, making it ideal for growing a variety of fruit trees, including grapes. In addition to these local characteristics, the hot spring water, with its high concentration of minerals and low temperature, is ideal for making liquor. “Around April, there are unsold strawberries piled up around the training center, and I love the smell of melting strawberries, so I thought it would be delicious to make wine from them. As the strawberries ripen, the yeast turns the sugars into alcohol, which gives off carbonation and tastes good. Higher temperatures cause a lot of flavor to be lost, so I insist on low-temperature fermentation even though it takes time” says Jo. In addition to the semi-sweet strawberry wine that maximizes the flavor of strawberries, there is a semi-dry red wine with oak and tannins that combines the berry fruits of aronia and blueberries, and a peach wine with the sweet flavor and softness of peaches. 

Expanding sales platform, participating in liquor fairs

Jo, who gave wine lectures at the Incheon Cultural Center, spent two years in Hanam after retirement, spreading the charm of wine to people. He regularly organizes ‘make your own sangria from red wine’ events at his winery. Part of his process is to determine whether the inclusion of the fruit’s seeds will add tannins or unpleasant bitterness. In addition to the primary fermentation, he uses a secondary aging process that takes into account the characteristics of each fruit: strawberries are aged for a long time at low temperatures to preserve their flavor and natural sweetness, and dry reds are aged intentionally short. His love of wine still drives him to develop, and he says that the peach wine he produced in small batches last year was so popular that he plans to create a festive product to showcase at peach festivals. He also plans to actively reflect consumer demand by participating in exhibitions such as the Seoul Food Festival to meet consumers in person. He plans to release smaller bottles of wine for people who are not comfortable with the volume of a typical bottle, and he plans to actively increase distribution channels to reach consumers in response to feedback that it is a bit difficult to purchase. “Next year, I will also participate in liquor fairs to introduce more consumers to wines made from good Korean fruits” says Jo. He also revealed plans to develop new products that actively reflect Korean characteristics, such as ‘Shine Muscat Grape Wine’ and ‘Yeongdong Wine’ made with grapes from Yeongdong, putting his insight into practice that ‘wine is a liquor that embodies the nation’.