South Korea boasts potential future for wine growth: Wine Intelligence (South Korea)

Wine Intelligence has pinpointed three factors which it says make South Korea ripe for wine growth and market opportunities.   

UK analysts at Wine Intelligence say South Korea is focussed on imported still wines rather than its own domestic products, unlike most growth wine markets like the US and China, La Journée Vinicole recently reported.

Furthermore, South Koreans who drink imported wines favour Chilean wine over French wine, as their number one imported grape-based wine in terms of overall volume – a trend likely to be linked to a long-standing free trade agreement.

Research findings by Wine Intelligence also found that over a third of South Korea’s imported wine drinkers were aged 29 or younger, an important factor given that South Korea’s young adults, like US Millennials,  are driving consumption.

Wine Intelligence analysts also likened the prevalence of the internet – one of the most popular sources of wine information in South Korea – to great opportunities for wine marketers and exporters.  Around one third of Koreans have a broadband internet connection which is higher than in the UK, US and Japan, La Journée Vinicole reported.