Gamgrin is the world’s first persimmon wine.
Gamgrin is made of a local produce, Cheongdo flat seedless persimmons, and is a wine that has the full aroma, taste, and nutrition of fresh persimmons. Gamgrin does not add any alcohol — it is made from 100% persimmon which is fermented with a special enzyme and is ripened for more than a year. Gamgrin gives you a fantastic taste which is a blend of the unique tangy sweetness of persimmon, combined with slightly sour tinge. When persimmon is fermented, you can feel persimmon’s natural aroma harmonized with a fruity aroma and bouquet. Gamgrin is ripened in a wine tunnel with superb natural conditions, and is thus well known for its splendid quality. Gamgrin is white wine but has rich tannin which can be found only in red wine. Gamgrin was selected as the wine for official dinner for the delegates participating in 2005 APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting due to its prime quality.

Due to exposure to sunlight, ultraviolet rays, radiation ions, chemical reactions, and smoking, our body makes reactive oxygen, such as superoxide anion (02-), hydro radical (OH), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and singlet oxygen. Such reactive oxygen (or oxygen free radicals) has a strong reaction with cells and can cause peroxidation of membrane lipids which leads to inflammation, cancer, sclerosis of the arteries, and aging. In order to prevent this from happening, we need to keep our health by consuming anti-oxidant foods.

An experiment was conducted to study the anti-oxidation of DPPH and SOD (super oxide sidmutase) using persimmon wine. In the DPPH test, the persimmon wine extract showed 91% of activation compared with ascorbic acid (100% in purity) which is currently used as an anti-oxidant agent. In the SOD experiment where electrons are applied to superoxide radicals to check elimination, the persimmon wine showed 84% of elimination ability. To find out whether persimmon wine induces cancer-preventive enzymes, a test was conducted to see how QR (an anticarcinogen enzyme) is induced, the results of which showed that persimmon wine had a 1.9-fold higher QR induction activation in 50 ppm than the control group which was set at 1. This shows that persimmon wine can be effective in preventing cancer. Therefore, test results have confirmed that persimmon wine can function as an anti-oxidant or anticarginogen.

Source: Extract from the Research Results of Professor Yi Hang-u at Keimyung University TRM Center

Though we don’t know exactly when people started to drink wine, it is presumed that mankind ate grapes from prehistoric times and that the first method of brewing came about when people discovered the natural fermentation of grapes. The English word wine is derived from vinum in Latin, and it is called vino in Italian, wein in German, and vin in French. Greece is the first country in the western world to have produced wine and later handed over their knowhow to the Roman Empire. The Romans cut down the trees in their conquered territories so that enemies could not hide, and planted grape vines in their place. The wine that was produced was used to prevent upset stomachs. Wine spread to other European regions after the Crusades, and academic methods of wine making was researched in French monasteries. In the 18th century, bottles and corks were in general use, and in the 19th century, wine making took an innovative leap thanks to Louis Pasteur’s fermentation through microbes. Today, wine, which has been known as “a blessing from God” or “aqua vitae (water of life)”, is produced in some 50 countries at an annual capacity of about 25 billion bottles.

Korea has a short history of wine, with general households making wine from edible grapes or a few wineries making low grade wine in the past. The first fruit wine to be sold in Korea was an apple wine called Paradise that hit markets in 1967. In 1974, Noble Wine was produced as the first produced grape wine. This was followed by the classic high quality wine Majuan in 1977 which opened a new chapter in the history of wine in Korea. However, various kinds of foreign wines began to be imported since the late 1980s, and the Korean wine industry is fading even before it had the chance to grow to its full potential. Nonetheless, Cheongdo Gam Wine is currently writing a new chapter in wine history with its persimmon wine.