I was in Vin-Ga (www.vinga.co.kr) in Shinsa-Dong this evening, where I had dinner with Hyuck Kim. One of the Korea's leading wine journalists, he took time off from finishing his book on Spanish wines to show me a domestic sparkler named Omy Rosé (served in the photograph below by Na Eun Sun, Vin-Ga's restaurant manager). Omy means five (o) flavours (my), a unique blend of sweet, sour, salty, bitter and pungent. It is produced from Omija, a local fruit from the village of Mungyeong, considered the grand cru for a herbal berry better known to Koreans as a vitality tea. I am told that it even has therapeutic effects for older men, whatever that might mean. Although the pale violet colour is charming, the odours are quite medicinally pomegranate and the taste a tad sweet. That said, its restrained bubbles make it very easy to drink - and with no sulphur quite easy to digest. In any case, the bottle was quickly empty. Comments