Wangju
How Wangju is drunk in Nonsan
At home they say: you drink Wangju first with your nose. The bouquet of chrysanthemum, goji berry and pine needles unfolds the moment the glass touches your lips. Traditionally it is joined by food from the region: oyster jeon, pan-fried beef, or freshwater fish from the Tapjeong reservoir, best of all braised crucian carp. A glass of Wangju becomes a sense of place: rice wine and landscape at the same table.
The sool of kings
Wangju is brewed in two stages and refined with noble medicinal plants: chrysanthemum blossoms, goji berries, pine needles. It then matures for at least one hundred days at low temperature before showing its full bouquet. What was once reserved for the court became a wine of state once more in 2000: as the official banquet wine of the ASEM summit.
Nam Sang Ran
Korea Food Master No. 13
In 1997 Nam Sang-ran was designated Korea Food Master No. 13; in 2004 she received one of the country's high orders of merit. For her, Wangju is not a product but an heirloom, every batch a promise to the women of her family who carried the recipe through a century of upheaval.
