Tag: Junghyun

[Wine Bits and Sips] No. 2. Does the Glass Really Matter?


a series of Wine Bits and Sips, written by Junghyun.


for the original Korean version

The four things that determine how a wine tastes: the wine itself, the company, the food and the glass.

They say four things determine how a wine tastes: the wine itself, the people you’re drinking with, the food you pair it with, and the glass. That last one tends to surprise people.

My own glass obsession started not with wine, but with a glass. At a tasting event early in my wine journey, something on the table caught my eye, not what was being poured but what it was being poured into. It was almost impossibly light, with a long, slender stem and a bowl whose rim seemed to vanish against your lips as you drank. I asked the sommelier instructor about it on the spot, and that was my introduction to the Zalto Universal Glass. She told me the backstory with obvious delight: a wine importer-turned-sommelier had ordered them in bulk as gift packages and negotiated them down to roughly half the price of Riedel.  Which is how Zalto quietly became available in Korea at a surprisingly reasonable price. By the time she finished the story, I had already found the glass on my phone and checked out. 😄

Someone on YouTube once said that a luxury wine glass is pure happiness when it’s sitting on the table, and pure dread the moment it hits the sink. Completely agree. My Zalto glasses come out maybe once or twice a year. Washing them is just too nerve-wracking. And yet, I’d still recommend having a set of Universal glasses if you want to experience wine at its best. The clarity of the crystal shows off the color of the wine beautifully; the near-invisible thin rim gets out of the way so the wine can speak for itself; and drinking from something so weightless and refined gives the whole experience a sense of occasion. On a special evening, that feeling makes every penny worth it. My more recent addition, the Zalto Burgundy, has become a favorite for a different reason. The wide bowl is perfect for burying your nose in and chasing aromas. It’s also surprisingly useful as a makeshift decanter: if you couldn’t resist opening a wine that needs more time, pour it into the Burgundy glass and let it breathe until the bouquet opens up.

When people think of premium wine glasses, Riedel comes to mind first, particularly the Sommelier Black Tie and Red Tie series. Both Riedel and Zalto are Austrian crystal glass brands at the top of the category. Riedel leans into curves and feminine volume; Zalto is more linear, with a sleeker, more architectural feel. There are other high-end design-forward brands: Zieher and Josephine, but honestly, for home use, it comes down to personal taste.

The shape of a wine glass is designed to highlight the wine’s specific character. A wide Burgundy bowl lets you nose the glass deeply; a tall, narrow tulip flute keeps the bubbles rising beautifully. If you’re just starting to build a collection, a Bordeaux glass and a Champagne flute are the most versatile starting points. One practical tip that’s easy to overlook is the height. Online photos make it hard to judge actual dimensions, and it’s surprisingly easy to receive a glass that won’t fit on your cabinet shelf. If you’re ever served a premium glass at a restaurant, acknowledge it. Fragile, labor-intensive to care for, and expensive to replace, choosing to use fine glassware is a restaurant owner’s way of saying the guest matters. That kind of hospitality deserves a quiet nod of appreciation.

For relaxed dinners and everyday pours, stock a generous supply of mid-range glasses that neither you nor your guests need to worry about. Reliable options in this category include Germany’s Spiegelau, Switzerland’s budget-friendly Zwiesel, and Villeroy & Boch, which supplied the German royal household and remains a beautifully made, accessible option. My personal daily drivers are the Villeroy & Boch white wine glass and the Luigi Bormioli DOC from Italy, both seamless (no mold line on the stem) and both excellent value.

However, there are no rules that wine should be poured into a wine glass. Some of the most satisfying wine tastes are from a plain stackable tumbler on a weeknight after work, just pulled straight from the fridge. That’s exactly the right glass. 😄

Use a mild dish soap or a baking soda and citric acid mix; this removes wine stains and keeps bacteria from settling in. You may have heard that wine glasses should be rinsed with hot water only, but skipping soap is actually a hygiene concern. If a glass at a restaurant smells off when it arrives, it hasn’t been cleaned properly; ask for a replacement without hesitation.

One more recommendation: the Zalto Balance. I received a set as a birthday gift recently, and it might become my new everyday glass. It’s smaller and more approachable than the Universal or Burgundy, easy to swirl, and the wide bowl concentrates aromas beautifully. It works wonderfully with aromatic whites like Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and even holds its own with Champagne. I think it’s going to earn a permanent spot on my table.

[Wine Bits and Sips] No. 1. Do You Really Need a Wine Fridge?

a series of Wine Bits and Sips, written by Junghyun.

for the original Korean version

Bottles piling up at home? Wondering whether a wine fridge is worth it?

Wine is, at its core, a bottled beverage with around 13% alcohol. It doesn’t spoil easily. However, that said, if you want it to taste exactly the same a few months from now as it does today, you’ll want to store it somewhere dark and cool, what the French call a cave, essentially a cellar-like environment. Experts give a fairly wide range for ideal storage temperature: anywhere from 45°F to 68°F (7–20°C). In my own experience, a single shelf in a closet, away from direct sunlight and not directly in the path of heating or air conditioning, works perfectly well for up to a year. The key is to lay the bottles on their side, which keeps the cork moist and prevents it from drying out. 

If you’re planning to finish a bottle within a month or two of buying it, there’s really no need to invest in a dedicated wine fridge. And if you just want the look, a stylish wine rack on a sideboard or countertop does the job beautifully and adds a lovely touch to any room.

When a wine fridge actually makes sense

If you find yourself regularly storing more than 20 to 30 bottles at a time, keeping wines for six months or longer, or aging premium bottles (think $80+) for several years, it’s time to invest in a proper wine fridge. 

A few things to know before you buy:

Compressor vs. thermoelectric. 

Smaller, quieter thermoelectric (semiconductor) models have become popular, but they’re sensitive to ambient temperature and tend to have shorter lifespans. For long-term storage, a compressor-based unit is the more reliable choice.

Brand matters. 

Look for something with minimal vibration, consistent temperature control, and a solid track record for durability [Top brands worth considering: LG DIOS, Dometic, and Eurocave]. My wine fridge costs more than my main refrigerator 😅.

Dual-zone vs. single-zone.

Some models let you set different temperatures for reds and whites; others don’t. If yours has only one temperature zone, set it to white wine temperature. Reds can be served slightly warmer after taking them out, but whites need that cooler baseline.

A few practical notes:

  • Wine you’re planning to drink soon doesn’t need to go in the fridge, though pulling a perfectly chilled bottle from it does feel rather nice.
  • If you’re moving soon, hold off on buying. The vibration and temperature swings of a move aren’t great for a wine fridge or the wine inside it. Wait until you’re settled.
  • Wine fridges can be noisy; they take up real space. [If you’re short on room, there’s always the sommelier-approved method: clearing out a wardrobe. It works really well 🥰]; they use more electricity than a standard fridge 😭.

[Wine Bits and Sips] The Charm of Wine

I share a series of Wine Bits and Sips, written by Junghyun. We invite you to start your wine journey right here, with us as your friendly guide, Junghyun.

for the original Korean version

Winery of Chateauneuf du Paoe

D·I·V·E·R·S·I·T·Y.

Before we dive into wine cellars, ratings, and the age-old debate whether an expensive bottle is truly worth its price, let me tell you why I got into wine in the first place.

The beauty of wine, I think, is this: without packing a bag or going anywhere, you can sit still and travel the world through all five senses. That’s the charm, and sometimes, honestly, it can also be the headache. Choosing a wine can feel like a multiple-choice question with answer options that spill onto the next page. You can’t always get it right. But that’s exactly why the moment you stumble upon something extraordinary feels so electrifying. One unexpected sip can make your eyes go wide in wonder. When a wine truly delights you, even the long hunting for that perfect bottle becomes a kind of play. The risk is, of course, that if you fail too many times in a row, the motivation to keep trying quietly fades away. Along with it, you lose the chance of ever finding that one wine that brings you genuine happiness. This is why, rather than picking at random, it helps to improve your odds a little bit.

That’s what this series is about.

Start with a Grape You Like

The usual advice is to begin your journey by finding a grape variety you enjoy.

Build a framework, something to anchor your choices so they’re easier to remember. In the New World, many wines are crafted from a single, well-known variety, which makes comparisons much easier. Mid-range American wines in particular tend to express their grape variety in a direct, straightforward way. Trying different bottles from the same producer, such as Long Barn or Textbook, across different varieties is a great way to map out your preferences. Textbook is best known for its reds and produces across a wide range, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc, with Pinot Noir being a more recent addition to their lineup. Each grape brings its own skin thickness, natural sugars, and character, and you’ll taste these differences in the glass as distinct wine’s texture, tannins, acidity, and finishes. Once you discover a variety you love, you can begin expanding your horizons by seeking out the same grape from different countries. However, keep in mind that this is only one of many ways to explore the world of wine. 

Collaborative Harmony of Grape, Terroir, and Tradition

Wine, they say, is a joint creation of the grape, the terroir, and the winemaker’s human hand. In France, it’s traditional not to list the grape variety on the label. Bordeaux-style blends are common, and the French tend to feel that variety alone doesn’t determine the wine’s soul. They see little reason to highlight it as the primary feature. During a Bordeaux winery tour years ago, where most of the guests were American. The winemaker poured a glass of deep, dark red wine and challenged us to guess the grape. Most guessed Cabernet Sauvignon or Syrah. The answer? 100% Merlot. These graphs came from vines nearly a hundred years old, rooted in the dry, stony soil of a hillside. While we were in Saint-Émilion on the Right Bank, an area where Merlot is the dominant variety and typically blended with small amounts of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, that tasting was a revelation. It was the exact moment the concept of terroir finally clicked for me, instantly and completely.

I came to wine with a strong conviction that France was its spiritual home of wine, so I started there, tasting my way across the regions one glass at a time. Unlike the New World, France places terroir at the center of everything. I fell for the rich, brooding tannins of Bordeaux reds: that dark tropical fruit, the weight, and a seductive, perfume-like quality that lingers like a single drop of fragrance. A wine with real complexity doesn’t just speak to your palate. It speaks to your imagination. I’d find myself picturing an elegant woman in a field of wildflowers or something bold, dynamic, almost physical. That’s Bordeaux red to me.

The Pope’s Wine and a New Obsession

Chataeuneuf du pape bottle

Then came Châteauneuf-du-Pape (CDP), often called the Pope’s wine, hailing from the southern Rhône valley. During the Avignon Papacy, Pope John XXII built a summer residence and a winery north of Avignon, giving the region its name, which translates to the “new castle of the Pope.” While history suggests that the wines of the Rhône still required refinement at the time, leading the Pope to reportedly ship in Burgundy until local quality improved. One of the most striking features of these bottles is the embossed papal coat of arms, featuring the tiara over the keys of Saint Peter, which sets them apart from everything else on the shelf. CDP is a blend led by Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre (GSM), along with other permitted varieties [the list has been revised from 13 down to 9 permitted varieties], which gives it a characteristic complexity. As a wine built for long aging, it possesses both power and elegance that never disappoints. Rich and full-bodied, yet more reasonably priced than Bordeaux or Burgundy, so it’s become my trusted bottle. It is a wine that feels particularly right from late autumn through the Christmas season, offering a warmth from the inside out. The only catch: it’s not exactly an everyday-priced bottle. Though when you see the vineyard, where every grape is hand-harvested and farmed organically, the price starts to feel entirely fair.

Southern Rhône Syrah: the Original Heritage

One afternoon at Lotte department store wine event, a staff recommendation led me to a Southern French Syrah. 

Most people associate Syrah with Australia, but it originated in France’s south. Phylloxera (a kind of aphid) devastated the vineyards of the region in the 19th century, and the Syrah planted today is technically a reimported variety; however, something about this land remains unchanged. The combination of limestone and gravel soils, paired with the fierce Mistral wind, gives Southern French Syrah a character entirely unlike its Australian counterpart. I drank a 2012 vintage in 2023 and was struck by the kind of balance and depth that only a well-aged, high-quality wine can offer. That specific wine is no longer imported, but whenever I spot a Syrah from the neighboring Roussillon region, it goes straight into my basket. Roussillon was long known for cheap table wine, but with talented winemakers moving in, the quality has surged, and you now find genuinely excellent value there.

A Recommendation That Changed My Mind

When dining out, I often ask for a wine pairing recommendation, a habit that sometimes leads me to bottles I’d never have chosen for myself.

This is exactly what happened at a wine bar near my home. I typically did not reach for American wines, and when it comes to whites, I rarely stray beyond French Chardonnay, but this was wonderful, offering a rich, almost oily texture and ripe orange fruit, complemented by a touch of oak and just a whisper of mineral on the finish. It was quite simply delicious. Curious to see whether I could find a similar experience elsewhere, I tracked down a South African Chardonnay in the $20 range. South Africa occupies somewhere between the Old World and the New with a wine history that is much longer than most people realize. The Dutch East India Company planted vines there as early as 1662, producing the country’s first wine by 1669. By the 1880s, South Africa had become one of England’s premier wine suppliers until politics, natural disasters, and war pushed it into obscurity for decades. It was only under the presidency of Nelson Mandela that the wine industry began to rebuild. Today, South African winemakers draw from both traditions by studying Burgundian techniques while embracing the expressive, fruit-forward styles of the New World. The result is a collection of wines with a unique identity that often provide exceptional value.

Every new variety, region, and producer weaves together terroir, intention, and craftsmanship into a story that awakens all five senses. The world of wine is truly boundless.

This is how I travel the world, right from the glass on my dinner table.

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started