'Koreans are stylish wine consumers'

Andrey Tsygankov, owner of a wine shop in Seoul

By Kang Hyun-kyung

One Russian wine expert said that Koreans are fast learners when it comes to wine and this partly explains why wine consumption here has grown rapidly over a short period of time.

"Russians have experienced wine for nearly two centuries. Compared with Russia, the history of wine here is very short because Koreans have begun tasting several different wines in recent years," Andrey Tsygankov said in a recent interview.

"Considering the short history, I think that the sharp growth of the wine market here is amazing."

The 44-year-old Russian, who owns a wine shop in Hannam-dong, Seoul, called Koreans "stylish consumers" because they have eyes for good wine.

"I believe that Koreans are curious, and this caused them to go for wines that they haven't tried before without hesitating."

Tsygankov noted that there are a few misconceptions regarding wines.

One of them is the popular belief among wine consumers here that white wine pairs well with seafood whereas a bottle of red goes with red meat, he said.

"In my experience, such a formula that certain wines are good for certain food is not always. For instance, three layer pork, widely known as samgyeopsal in Korean, goes well with deep American white wines. Tuna and red wine matching is another good example which makes such a belief invalid," he said.

Tsygankov completed a wine course designed for CEOs, which was provided by one of major wine importers Winenara, and participated in wine-tasting trips to Australia, the U.S. and Italy. He has lived in Korea for 19 years since he arrived in Seoul for study in 1994.

His past experience in trading companies helped him hone his wine tasting skills because he was exposed to a variety of wines from many countries.

"I love wine so much and that's why I decided to open a wine bar here years after I served as country representative of several different Russian companies based in Seoul," he said.

Tsygankov argued that there is no universal rule applicable to matching food with wine.

Wine talk

The more people experience wines, the less they can tell about wines, the Russian said.

"It is ironical that seasoned wine consumers can hardly pick which brands or types of wines they like most, when asked to their favorites. This is true because there are approximately 2 million of wines in the world.

If someone says that he or she likes particular types of wines most, the 44-year-old said, this probably means that they know little about wines.

"Or they maybe have a narrow view of wines or have little experiences of wines," Tsygankov said in the fluent Korean language.

His wine talk came days after Christmas when wine consumption usually went high as people celebrated the holiday with wines.

Data showed wine consumption in Korea has sharply increased since 2000. According to the Korea International Trade Association, wine imports here in 2006 were $88 million. Last year $147 million in wine was imported from Europe and other continents.

France and Chile are two major wine exporters to Korea.

Industry experts said the free trade agreements signed with the European Union and Chile played a pivotal role in increasing Koreans' wine consumption as prices of wines went down.

The pact with Chile, particularly, helped Koreans "diversify" their wine consumptions, they said.

Tsygankov encouraged consumers to drink wines minutes or hours, depending on wines, after they open wine bottle caps.

"In general, wines from Australia, America and Italy tend to be darker and deeper than those from other continents. Therefore, it's good for consumers to taste them one or two hours after opening," he said. "Wines from France or other countries with cold weather are good to drink five or ten minutes after opening them."

Tsygankov said that there are no golden rules that can be applicable in the selections of wines in stores.

"I would say Napa Valley wines are generally good and they are recommendable. However, it will be probably difficult for consumers, who have no deep understanding of wines, to find good French wines in stores without the help from others because the European country is the largest producer of wines and there are various types and brands of French wine," he said.

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