Where was the wine at the Olympics?

Last week, I was in PyeongChang at the Olympics. In short, it was amazing. The longer version of the story was that there were a few minor hiccups. And really, I mean minor, because let me repeat, it. was. amazing. As we enjoyed the games, we faced a few challenges related to food and beverage consumption (not the least of which was that Korean cuisine is not vegetarian friendly). Dietary restrictions aside, we often found ourselves asking a pretty simple question: Where was the wine? Not to mention the social enjoyment of wine drinking that my friends and I are accustomed to, in this specific case, the frigid temperatures would have certainly been mitigated by a glass of red wine (certainly more so than the cold beers more easily available). In fact, an article in Wine Enthusiast titled "Where to Eat and Drink in PyeongChang, South Korea" doesn't even mention where one might find a nice glass of wine (or even any glass of wine for that matter). Rather, it speaks of beer and soju cocktails, which are much more typical of the Korean preferences.

One might argue that selling wine at the Olympics could be an opportunity to showcase Korean wine and make a name for the industry on a global stage. The problem here is that South Korea doesn't have much in the way of domestic (grape) wines to showcase. The best example I could find was the Korean version of Two Buck Chuck: Jinro House Wine, which sells for 2,500 KRW per bottle (see below for photo). Here's a small sampling of reviews I could find:

• "Well firstly it’s nice that Korea finally is producing some reasonably priced wine plus it’s domestic which is also nice. However the wine itself is merely grape juice with a kick, it’s not really wine. Honestly the phrase “Mutton dressed as lamb” comes to mind when you first drink a glass." 
• "It's a mere grape juice with alcohol. Doesn't have any hint of wine."
• "It is overly sweet, and in my opinion, it is undrinkable."

... okay you get the point. 

Sales of wine (by volume) in South Korea have been declining since at least 2011, though sparkling wine and rosé are two growing segments (but also not what I want to be drinking in 15 degree temperatures). Local production is essentially limited to non-grape wines, such as takju or cheongju; over 99% of grape wine (sparkling and still) is imported from other countries.

But then the next side of this questionis that with so many visitors from all over the world, why not cater to international preferences and have some available for concession? Maybe international wineries want to take advantage of the global stage? Interestingly enough, the import tariff on wine from the U.S. into Korea was eliminated in 2012 (thanks to a free trade agreement), and the taxes and tariffs now only apply to beer and distilled spirits. I'm not sure whether other regions enjoy similarly friendly trade policies, but I'm certainly left wondering why at least no U.S. wineries took advantage of the captive audience to make what could have been fairly massive sales. There were at least 10 eager customers in us GSBers, and I'm sure there would've been thousands more. 

Korea's finest. 

Sources: Euromonitor, www.ttb.gov