Culture of wine explored in largest tasting exposition

The Seoul Wine Expo 2005, the biggest wine exhibition in Korea and hosted this year by Kyunghyang Daily News, offers a rare opportunity for those wishing to gain knowledge and experience about the culture of wine.
“Foreign wine industry managers see Korea as having a lot of potential as a wine market and want Koreans to enjoy wine culture," said Yoo Han-na, one of the organizers of the expo.
The three-day exhibition has two sessions: The first, a symposium today for professionals working in wine-related fields, provides a forum to share information on wine through presentations and discussions on the future of Korea’s wine market.
After the symposium, participants will have the opportunity to network.
The second session is open to the public on Wednesday and Thursday and will feature world class wines from 18 countries including France, Italy and Germany. The main European wine producers will display 5,000 wines at 100 different booths for visitors to taste along with a free Schott Zwiesel lead-free crystal glass and a wine guide- book.
Five detailed lectures, a first for the expo, will also be given by wine experts including Yves Lambert from France who has participated every year since the first Seoul Wine Expo and will this time introduce wine from the Loire region.
Jonathan E. Slosberg from Spain, visiting Korea for the first time, will introduce three different Denominacio Origen Spanish wines and give a lecture on grape-derivative Californian wine and wine etiquette. Tasting sessions will also be held.
For those seeking to be a sommelier and study wine overseas, there will be more than 20 representatives of universities from the United States, Italy, France and Germany participating in the expo.
In addition, visitors can win prizes through a blind tasting contest, and various accessories will be on sale. A variety of cheeses will be offered alongside wines.
“The wine industry is rapidly growing in Korea, yet it is a new entrant in the market,” Ms. Yoo said. “Through the exhibition, we wanted to foster links among wine industry experts and amateurs from all over the world, hold a symposium to share information and publicize the high quality wine.”
The fifth Seoul Wine Expo 2005 will be held from today through Thursday at the Millennium Seoul Hilton Hotel in downtown Seoul.
The admission fee for professionals attending the first session is 20,000 won and 15,000 won for the public. For further information, please call (02) 2231-4901 or (02) 3701-1603.

by Kim Bo-yung