A Day of Class (but no Teaching)

A few weeks ago it was brought to my attention that Daejeon was hosting a wine festival. I was definitely a bit skeptical, Korea is not well known for their wine. I mean you can get a bottle of yellow tail in the store for like $18... Anyway a group of people from my recent bike trip in Japan was planning to attend so I figured I didn't have much to lose. Worst case I drink some mediocre wine while in good company.  Everyone had plans for the beginning of the weekend so we decided to check out the event Sunday afternoon ~ Sunday Funday^^ Sara and I caught a morning train and were soon joined by other from Seoul and Daejeon, pack into taxis and on our way to the festival. 

As we arrived our friend Nick informed us how it worked; you buy a wine glass for 3,000 won and then enter the tents to sample....all. day. long. um what? <$3 to drink wine all day? Why weren't we here Friday and Saturday too.  Of course when you're sampling wine it's a small sip so it's not like you'll get drunk very fast, unless you're a group of foreigners who get lucky.  As we were wandering the isles we saw an area that was kind of roped off but Nick, Neva Anna and I decided to check it out anyway.  Welcome to wine heaven, apparently we had entered the "self pour" area where you could pick any wine bottle from the hundreds lined up on the walls.  There were even workers walking around to uncork them for you ~ talk about service!

The line we were supposed to wait in, oops

After sampling a few different wines we were told that our time was up and that we had to exit so the next group of people could enter. This is when we realized that we were actually supposed to wait in line, a very long line that we magically bi-passed. (Unfortunately we weren't as lucky when we tried the same entrance method later in the afternoon). Our friends that were in the second taxi decided they wanted to wait in line so we took their advice and went to check out the second tent, yes there were two tents filled with gloriousness.  The second tent held more traditional wines, persimmon (it's not delicious) and of course maekolli.  We got our fill and before long met back up with our friends who were now finished in the self pour tent.  While wandering we made many awesome discoveries; first Amarula which is a SA liqueur very similar to Kaluha, Mackiss which is another crazy dangerous invention by the clever Korea's - you can mix it with literally anything and can't taste the alcohol - danger Will Robinson.  Oh and of course we made many new ajossi friends, they seriously love us, and I do indeed have a soft spot in my heart for them. I mean who doesn't new an awesome ajossi friend or two??

Coffee, Amarula and Wine? 

Ajossi friend #1

Ajossi #2, he made a few reappearances throughout the day

After getting our fill of wine we decided it might be a good idea to eat something, I think we all had breakfast sometime that morning... we made our way outside but quickly got distracted by the balloon booth. I'm pretty sure this was meant for children (wait why would there be children at a wine festival? ) but the foreigners kind of get an exemption card with those types of things.  Of course we all lost our balloons to the wind, and thus visited the booth more than once, but they did provide us with a good laugh. There were various booths set up with both Korean and international meals so we conquer and divided, returning to our table with fish n' chips, paejeon, fried chicken and of course a big pitcher of beer.  Good life choices right there. 

Class in a glass 

After taking a break outside we made our way back to the wine tents, not that we needed to drink more but when in Rome. I guess the festivities were coming to an end because it was time for Champagne showers, literally I came away from that crowd sopping wet. We made best friends with all of the guys who were working the 'self pour' area and at one point I found myself in a VIP? room with a bunch of people I didn't know.  They shuffled us in their while kicking everyone else out of the area after the 20 minute time limit so that we could stay to enjoy the fun,  love getting the special treatment.  Eventually we wandered back outside, met up with some more new friends and finally decided to call it a night. After-all it was Sunday and we all had to "prepare" for class the next day. Who knew that my spur of the moment decision to join the Japan bike trip would lead to meeting such great people and enjoying festivities such as this. I can only hope there's more fun to come - but who am I kidding it's Korea, there's ALWAYS more fun to come^^

Poppin' bottles 

I don't know any of these people
^^my VIP room friends^^