By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter

Round two in a drinks duel between wine and ``makgeolli’’ ― Korean-style rice wine ― got underway Thursday as fresh new editions hit shop shelves.

Against the annual release of Beaujolais Nouveau, a French wine vintage officially out for sale on the third Thursday in November called ``Beaujolais Day,’’ local vintners released their own newest edition made from freshly-harvested rice, under the name of ``makgeolli nouveau.’’

Makgeolli snatched an initial edge in the battle, as the product beat out the French classic in subscription sales at the nation’s major department stores earlier this month.
2,272 bottles were booked for sale at Lotte, Shinsegae and Hyundai department stores, nearly tripling those for Beaujolais nouveau.

Department stores are attempting to make the best of the budding rivalry, by putting on sales promotions for both products in their stores with some even displaying them side-by-side.

On Thursday Lotte launched a week-long promotion for the Korean drink, where four kinds of makgeolli nouveau will be unveiled along with other high-end rice wine products. But sampling events for Beaujolais will be also run parallel to the event.

Buoyed by the enthusiastic response from customers, Shinsegae started the sale of the local nouveau earlier this week. More than 1,500 bottles of the wine were sold in the first two days, the retailer said.

Recognized as a simply old-fashioned drink for a long time, makgeolli is popular with trend-savvy young female customers in the current boom. The biggest group is women in their 20s and 30s, and some of them ended up placing orders for makgeolli nouveau when they came to reserve its Beaujolais counterpart, according to Hyundai Department Store.

The stores expect the frenzy for high-quality makgeolli products to last. Shinsegae originally set its sales target at 2,000 bottles, but has ordered 3,000 more bottles with current sales on a roll.

``It appears all 5,000 bottles will be sold out this week alone. Additional orders may soon be necessary,’’ a buyer from the store said.

Promotions for the traditional drink are not just happening in shops. This week is likely to see a new chapter in marketing, as an unprecedented ``Makgeolli Expo’’ kicked off Thursday as part of the Food Week 2009 exhibition at the COEX Hall in southern Seoul.

Hosted by the Korea Agro-Fisheries Trade Corp, the event will feature some 150 makgeolli labels from 30 local makers. Visitors also can experience how to make the traditional drink, as well as sample products on display.

hckim@koreatimes.co.kr