Wine Wine & More Wine On The Korean Wine Train

This past weekend, a few friends and I decided to hitch a ride on the slow train from Seoul to Yeongdong in Chungcheonbuk-do aboard the wine train. A wine train in Korea? Yes, and it’s brilliant. I love train rides and I love wine so there’s really no better combination. Jump aboard to be whisked away for a fun day. Depart from Seoul Train Station in central Seoul and take a leisurely ride enjoying the views while you sip wine, eat a small plate of appetizers and learn about Korean wine… or just drink it.

The experience is pretty unique in Korea and definitely something different to do. Whether you’re looking for a fun Korean train tour or a Korean winery experience, this would hit the mark. Here’s why you should book your journey on the wine train now!

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How To Book Tickets On The Wine Train

Advance reservation is required.

Website: http://winekorea.kr/

Reservation Inquiries: 043-744-3211 / [email protected]

Operating Hours: Tue-Sat 9:00am ~ 6:00pm

If You Like Wine Tours: Another tour that Trazy has takes visitors to the Gwangmyeong Caves, which have an impressive light installation, and then to the Grand Coteau Winery on Daebudo Island. This would be another awesome option if you want a unique wine experience here in Korea. Click here to find more information about this wine tour.

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Itinerary For The Wine Train

This is an updated itinerary as of 2020 and is not what I did when I first went, but, I’ve updated info for the new stops below so you know what to expect. The main stop is still Mani Winery which is where I did go. Here is the itinerary for the Korean wine train:

1. Seoul Station to Yeongdong Station
2. Yeongdong Station to Wine Korea Winery
3. Wine Korea to Nangye Korean Classical Music Museum
4. Walk to Okgye Falls and Cheongogak
5. Okgye Falls to Yeongdong Station
6. Yeongdong Station to Seoul Station

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What To Expect On The Wine Train

Arrive at Seoul Station near the popular Seoullo 7017 walkway and check in at the third floor reception rooms. Ask at the information desk in the central terminal if you want to get directions to the rooms and are unsure of where to go.

Our Korean leader rushed us on to the train and pointed us to our seats. The windows were adorned with gold curtains hanging down. The seats were covered in red patterned velvet. The walls were painted in lavish decoration and wood paneling half way down. It felt like gaudy posh, something you’d expect to see the Siberian railways of past adorned with. Of course, we nestled right in and wondered what would come next, as if the decorations themselves weren’t enough. They totally were, but oh we were ready for adventure.

Our dear leader brought out sticky coasters so nothing could slide away and presented us with a dish of goodies: crackers, oranges and of course the Korean delight, singles slices of cheese. A speaker came in and announced that we would be enjoying four different kinds of wine with our breakfast and we were to sip each and then upon completion decide which one we liked so that we could enjoy a full glass later.

There were three reds and one white and as would be expected in Korea, or as I had expected, the red was not what you’d expect. Korean wine is usually sweeter more similar to the bokbunja that is made from the mountain berries of Korea. If you like sweet wine, you’ll love the tour, but if not, opt for the white which is a bit easier to drink. I opted for the white as did my friends.

Wine and conversation and two hours later we had arrived at the city of Yeongdong, Korea.

Yeongdong is a nice little city with persimmon trees lining the road. We learned that this is the only city in Korea where anyone can just walk up and pick the fruit and take it home. Apparently in the rest of Korea someone owns each tree so only those people have access to the fruit of their own tree. A short bus ride later we found ourselves at Chateau Mani Winery where we were invited to enjoy food inside.

We were a little concerned to read the sign, “Wine and Slow Food” while entering. If it was really that slow it might put a damper on the day, but having learned what “Slow Food” and “Slow Cities” are now, I get it. We supped on a buffet of good eats including smoked duck and salads and some Korean favorites too that were all washed down with even more wine.

After lunch, we were ushered across the parking lot to another building where we sat through something that seemed akin to an infomercial, but as it was all in Korean there’s no way to be sure. At one point the speaker did seem to notice that all of the people on the left side of the room were Koreans, and unbeknownst to us, all of the people on the right were foreigners, including a group of Japanese tourists we hadn’t yet noticed.

After the speaking concluded we were ushered up to make bath soap. We had questioned how this had anything to do with wine only to find out after we had made our balls of soap they sprayed them with some wine. Ah, of course, there is a connection here. As I’ve often found on tours in Korea, it doesn’t all go together as one would expect but if you go in with an open mind and are ready to have some fun, well there will certainly be fun that can be had.

They then handed us towels and bath slippers and we took off our shoes and socks and rolled up our pants to enjoy a little wine foot bath.

With the older women, ajummas, surrounding in the other baths gasping and oohing and aahing in delight there was no way not to enjoy this random experience in a winery. The wine was just hot enough to be soothing and not too hot to be scalded. We sat with 10 people dangling their feet in this wine trying to have a conversation with the two Koreans that ended up in a bath with eight foreigners.

After the bath was finished and we lotioned up our feet and legs we were taken to see the actual winery and wine caves as they say. They were dark and dank and what you would expect from a wine cellar that’s been hidden away for years, even though this one hasn’t been. Upon seeing them and reflecting I was pretty happy there was a wine foot bath and bathing soap ball party beforehand because the cellars definitely wouldn’t have been a highlight.

After finishing up, just to be a little healthy, they took us to a section of the city famous for its ginseng, the Geumsan Ginseng Town. There is an entire street with ginseng shops; ginseng for eating, ginseng for smelling, friend ginseng, ginseng rice wine, ginseng, ginseng, ginseng of all sizes. I don’t know how anyone makes money because it looked like 30 of the same shop with different owners lining the street.

Apparently letting us have a break from the wine and be a bit healthy they handed us ginseng makkoli, or ginseng rice wine and fried ginseng as an afternoon snack. We were taught to make ginseng sachets to hang in our house, though to be honest the smell of ginseng is not that attractive. The ginseng making teacher explicitly said NOT to use this particular ginseng in tea or anything else to be eaten, it is only for smelling and then she sent us on our way.

As of 2020, the updated itinerary doesn’t seem to include a stop in Geumsan Ginseng Town anymore but instead visitors are taken to the Nangye Korean Traditional Museum where you can see the largest drum in the world which has a Guinness World Record and then you get a crash course in playing two types of drums including the “janggu” or hourglass drum and the “buk” or barrel drum.

Back to the train at 7 and everyone was feeling the day of wine. It would have been a good point to take a nap but our fearless leaders gave us a platter of mini sandwiches, kimbob, fruit and nuts and said it was all you can drink time and the wine just kept flowing.

The ajummas were in the aisles dancing and singing with the guitarist they had hired to ride back with us. It was back and forth between English Frank Sinatra and Elton John renditions to Korean pop music which the women really enjoyed the most. We arrived back in Seoul at 8:00 and having ingested wine for just about 10 hours straight hit the sheets for some much needed rest. All in all it’s definitely an event that should be taken advantage of in Korea.

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