My name is Joon Song. I was born in Los Angeles but called Alhambra home for 19 years; I’ve called South Pasadena home for the remaining eight. I spent four-and-a-half of those 27 years in Berkeley, where I graduated from the UC in 2006. I am now a resident of the District of Columbia metropolitan area.
My relative proximity to Napa Valley was, unfortunately, negated by a dire un-proximity to money. This changed my fifth year of college, when my being a Resident Assistant and having a steady job gave me a bit of disposable income.
What better way to dispose of income than get into wine?
Seriously, though, I have a number of reasons why I decided to go into wine, ranging from working in food service and hospitality while at college to other, more emotional motivations. Whatever the reason, I love wine and talking about wine. However, as a “budding neo-oenophile” I am stuck between a rock and a hard place: the “wine is too complicated” camp and the “wine snob” camp.
How hard can it be to exchange information about wine, gush about new and exciting and old and expensive wine and vines, and revel in horrible puns? My hope is: not very. Hence, this blog.
Please feel welcome to leave comments or start your own blog and link to this one. Cheers!
— Joon
Vinicultured: A Wine Blog 
Hi-
I love your profile- IT SOUNDS JUST LIKE ME
I am an RA in New York City with high dreams and aspirations but living a dire reality where wine often saves the day!
I also intern at a PR company that represents a bunch of wines under the moet hennessy brand
keep in touch- we may want to send you samples
Oh, hey – one other thing:
I had the most incredible wine a few months ago, called Don Melcho, made by Concha y Toro. It’s a Chilean wine, and for 50 bucks I think it’s about the best I’ve ever had. If you ever run into a bottle, try it out!
Hi Joon, we met a few months back when Amelia was in DC for a little while visiting with her friend Joel.
My first chance to check out your blog — really neat! I especially like that you’re twittering.
Hey Wilson!
I remember you, man! I believe I still have your card at my apartment in DC. Thank you for reading my blog!
I haven’t been tweeting very much, nor have I have been updating my blog regularly. I need to get on that!
Hope you’re doing well,
Joon
Joon, great blog! Will definitely be tuning in. I’m glad you’re finding time to share your wine experiences (and thoughts) with law school and all.
Thanks Rona! Please check back often. I don’t know if I don’t post as often as I should because of law school or post even as little as I do because of it!
Stumbled across your web site so I thought I’d ask you.
I just bought a house and it has a wine cellar. Once the dust settles and my Visa clears, I’d like to start cellaring wine. I’d like to buy ‘new’ vintages circa 2009 and age them myself.
Where do you buy these? The web, surprisingly, doesn’t have much info on this.
thanks.
Thanks for the comment, Mark! Regarding the cellaring, I’m not the best person to ask per se because I don’t have a cellar–yet. However, there are a number of ways to build up your collection. Many retailers have advance order groups or futures, where you can purchase cases of wine at a substantial discount. You can visit Kermit Lynch or Ansonia Wines online (use the links on the sidebar to the right); there should be information on how to do this.
Many winemakers also have similar deals. For instance, Ridge Vineyards allows you to join a special club (either their ATP or their Z List) which gets you first dibs on new releases.
Or, you can sign up for online auction sites, such as the one at Christie’s (http://www.christies.com/departments/wine/). You may be able to find bargains on verticals of wine, in case you want to do some retroactive purchasing. Other sites, such as Cindarella Wines and Winery Insider, can provide you with good bargains on hard-to-find wines.
Congratulations on your new home and wine cellar. Good luck on collecting bottles, and let me know how it goes!
Wow Joon, all of this is very interesting. Stuff I never knew about you! I recently just started to explore wine and such. My favorite thing right now is Sparkling Wine. I’ve always been a Champagne lover (I’m definitely a bubbly type of girl), but a few weeks ago I went on a wine vacation in Temecula, and discovered a few sparkling wines I love. One of them is called Ruby Cuvee, a red sparkling wine, and the my other true love is Spumanti Diamante which is extremely sweet. After I had both, it made me want to lay and relax in a nice bath with rose petals haha! It’s very feminine I think, and the bottles both have photos of beautiful pinup girls, which is a nice touch. I was never a fan of red wines, but after this trip I found a type that I think I liked, which is a Syrah. Oh, and the wine and cheese pairings is absolutely delightful. Anyway, I love how you share your experiences, emotions, inspirations and perspectives. How fun!
Hello Joon,
We’ve selected you as our Foodista Wine Blog of the Day for 8/3! Your blog entry (regarding the perfect summer wine) will be featured on the Foodista homepage for 24 hours. This is a new feature that we recently launched and are thrilled to post your blog. Besides posting your link on the homepage, we will also post a couple shout outs on our Twitter and Facebook pages.
Since you are now a part of the Foodista Featured Wine Blogger of The Day Community, we’ve created a special badge for you to display proudly on your blog sidebar. I couldn’t find your email on your blog to send you the access code for the special badge, but I want to make sure you get it if you are interested. Please send me an email and I’ll send it right away.
We are really enjoying your blog and look forward to seeing your recipes, tips and techniques on Foodista! If you would not like to be recognized on Foodista please let me know and I will remove your blog from our queue.
Cheers,
Anneka
Joon, this may be a very random question, but how do you get wine stains out of clothes? While I was at a party, I had a belligerent friend spill red wine all over my other friend’s shirt (and my nice $500 shoes). Drinking wine should be a classy and elegant experience, but it’s not always so elegant! Accidents happen, and since you are the wine connoisseur, I think a post on wine safety, stain removal and such would be beneficial to a lot of people! Thanks so much!
Hey Geri, thank you for your comment. That’s a great question and one I’ve often thought about. I haven’t yet had the misfortune of having wine spilled on my clothes, so I haven’t looked into this issue. But, I will keep my eyes out, and if any advertisers (wink wink!) want to send me samples of stain removers to test, I would be happy to do so and get back to you!
Read that you worked at LegalZoom. How was it there ? Did you like it, the culture, the work, did they promote from within?
I see that your also a law student. Do you feel the work there helped you obtain other law related jobs?
https://vinicultured.com/2008/03/27/wednesday-wine-night-at-legalzoom/
Thinking of taking a job there. Your advice is appreciated.
Thank you in advance!
Hey June: I really enjoyed my time there–so much so in fact that I interned there for a full summer and a half summer in law school. Please send me an e-mail at joon [at] vinicultured [dot] com and I’d be happy to talk about LegalZoom!
Hey Joon; just read about your Stolpman experience and perused the rest of your blog. Very nice. Glad you enjoyed Stolpman and appreciate the comments. Look forward to your next visit! Tom
Thank you for making that Stolpman experience awesome, Tom! I look forward to stopping by again in the future.
Dear Sir,
I have stumbled upon your blog after a querry on Google identified as a source of information for the Cassnova di Nero Rosso. What a turn of luck! There was a fellow I knew much like yourself in DC once, but he ran off to California. I happened to hear that he returned in search of a love left pining for in the District, and now he and the lass reside happily in this city once again. Yet, said fellow has failed to contact me, though I have much of one of his favorite wines, a 2009 Morgon. It would be nice to speak again to him, sometime.
Mr. Silva:
Yes! The Casanova di Nero Rosso is a fantastic gem, as evidenced by its quality of bringing together people. I know the man you speak of; he has changed somewhat, but he is on the East Coast. He has not contacted you because he feels as if he is adrift, but he would always like to hang out with friends (especially those friends who drink terrific wine). He apologizes for not contacting you earlier. He also is extremely happy that there are more bottles of 2009 Bichot Morgon to be had; he would like to inquire as to how much these bottles are selling for these days. Another event like the Sausage Fest is in order soon, he thinks!
Hi Joon! It was nice to meet you at Weygandt Wines last night. Cheers! Jessica (& Jonathan)
It was nice to meet you two as well! I hope to see you guys again sometime soon!