Wine Now as Popular as Beer Among Koreans

Wine, once considered by most Koreans to be a drink for special occasions, is now as popular as beer and soju and commonly imbibed at regular meals.

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Among alcoholic beverages, wine was the top seller for the first time this year at supermarket chain E-Mart, beating beer, which ruled the market for a long time.

E-Mart said wine accounted for 23.3 percent of its total sales of alcoholic beverages from January until this month, followed by Korean beer (22.2 percent), imported beer (21.6 percent) and soju (18.2 percent).

Low-priced wine drove the sales. E-Mart imported 1 million bottles of wine priced at W4,900 each from Chile and Spain in August and recently ordered more after they sold out (US$1=W1,161).

Domestic and imported beer outsold wine at other supermarket chains, but wine sales are expected to increase next year. They are ramping up promotional activities while offering products that can only be sold at offline stores -- to compete with online retailers.