Napa Valley's Dana Estates marks 10 years

A view over Dana Estates’ home ranch (Rutherford Bench) / Courtesy of DongA One

The first Korean-owned winery in U.S.

Lee Hi-sang, chairman of DongA One Corporation

By Yun Suh-young

Korea as a terroir (French for "land" where wine is cultivated) isn't suitable for wine cultivation due to its humidity and the summer monsoon season, experts say.

There are regions such as Yongdong in North Chungcheong Province and Sangju in North Gyeongsang Province which produce wines but the quality of the wine produced even there can only reach that of mid-level California wines ranging in price between 50,000 to 70,000 won.

Winemakers who really dream of producing better quality wines cannot be satisfied with such an environment _ hence they seek overseas vineyards to produce high quality wines.

A pioneer in establishing a Korean-run winery overseas is Lee Hi-sang, chairman of DongA One Corporation which covers businesses ranging from flour mills, to wine and dining to importing luxury sports cars.

Dana Estates, the winery in the Napa Valley of California, owned by Lee, recently celebrated its 10 year anniversary on Aug. 23. Dana Estates is the first and longest-run Korean-owned winery overseas. Whereas other countries have their nationals owning several wineries outside their country, there is only one from Korea.

Onda d’Oro, left, and Vaso produced at Dana Estates

Looking back at the winery's 10-year history, Lee recalled some of the difficulties in starting the vineyard.

"I had known the top winemakers in the Napa Valley since 1997 while importing wines for Nara Cellar, a wine importing company under our group. The winemakers there acknowledged my efforts in spreading the excellence of Napa Valley to Koreans. But becoming a winemaker as one of their competitors was a totally different matter," said Lee in an e-mail interview with The Korea Times.

"Unlike many of the famous wine producing regions, the entry barrier to non-residents is extremely high in the Napa Valley. The winemakers there have strong pride and believe they should raise the name of their region and enhance the quality of their wine. Gaining recognition from such an exclusive community and being assimilated into it as their true colleague was difficult."

With time, he said, Dana Estates received recognition from fellow winemakers and also received top reviews from famous wine critics such as Robert Parker Jr. and Antonio Galloni. In 2012, a Dana Estates' wine was sold for the highest price at the Premiere Napa Valley auction.

"Other than the monetary reward, the perception about us also began to change. The winemakers in the Napa Valley began to believe that our winery was comparable with the top Napa Valley wineries," said Lee.

Dana Estates has three representative wines which are all sold at $400 and are exclusively sold in the U.S. market. When the wines first debuted, they came out at the price of $275 which was extremely high in a market where wines over $250 were considered top-quality wines. The decision at first was thought to be too experimental and risky for a trial sale in an unknown market. Now the wines from Dana Estates have become sought after all over the U.S.

The Dana Estates Cabernet Sauvignon Lotus Vineyard has received the perfect score of 100 from Parker twice: in 2007 and 2010.

Two representative wines of Dana Estates, Onda d'Oro and Vaso, were also awarded scores of over 90 by Parker. Vaso (150,000 won) is the basic wine which is sold only in the Korean market and Onda D'Oro (400,000 won), a tier above Vaso, is sold in the U.S., Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore, as well as Korea. The wines were served at events such as the G20 and the Nuclear Security Summit when hosted by Korea.

Napa Valley wines are known to maintain steady quality over all vintages and are still good to drink even when they're young, wine importers say.

Lee, a wine-lover himself, who drinks wine at every meal except breakfast, shows particular affection for the wines he produces as a Korean.

"I hope Dana Estates will not become just a one-shot star, but a lasting top-quality producing winery. Because I'm a Korean, I hope to move forward by demonstrating the unique craftsmanship of Koreans as winemakers," said Lee.