Large Corporations Buying Overseas Wineries... Expanding Wine Market

Hanwha Solutions Acquires US Napa Valley Winery 'Sevenstones'
Shinsegae Acquires 'Shafer Vineyard'... Strengthening Synergy with Existing Business
Lotte Expands Specialty Store 'Bottle Bunker'... Boosting Business Competitiveness

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] The domestic wine market, which was previously dominated by specialized wine importers, is now facing fierce competition from large corporations. From establishing premium wine import companies to expanding large specialty stores and acquiring overseas wineries, the competition to secure dominance in the rapidly growing domestic wine market, backed by financial power, is intensifying.

According to industry sources on the 30th, Hanwha Solutions recently acquired the boutique winery 'Seven Stones' in Napa Valley, California, for $34 million (approximately 43.1 billion KRW) through its U.S. subsidiary Hanwha Solutions USA Holding Corporation.

The Seven Stones Winery is situated on a total area of about 182,000 square meters, consisting of approximately 12,000 square meters of organic vineyards, a 1,393 square meter winery, and a 613 square meter residence. Hanwha Solutions' Insight division, which took over part of the resort business from Hanwha Hotels & Resorts, is expected to enhance its competitiveness in the resort business and introduce premium American wines through this winery acquisition.

Before Hanwha Solutions, Shinsegae Group took the lead in winery acquisitions. Under the leadership of Vice Chairman Yongjin Chung, Shinsegae acquired the cult winery 'Shafer Vineyard,' one of Napa Valley's representative wineries, along with related real estate, for $250 million (approximately 300 billion KRW) through its real estate development affiliate Shinsegae Property in February. In August, they also purchased additional vineyards in the Stags Leap District.

Shafer Vineyard is a premium winery with over 50 years of history, producing top-tier wines and boasting a scale of 2 million acres. It produces five premium wines, including 'Hillside Select.' Acquiring a winery not only offers advantages such as price competitiveness and securing supply for products produced there but also allows the acquisition of know-how related to wine brewing.

Through the winery acquisition, Shinsegae has strengthened synergy with its existing wine business. By moving into production alongside wine import (Shinsegae L&B) and distribution (Emart), it has expanded its influence in the rapidly growing domestic wine market. Shinsegae entered the wine business through Shinsegae L&B, which has led the importers with sales reaching 200 billion KRW last year, thanks to effective strategies such as expanding its own liquor specialty store chain 'Wine & More.'

Following Shinsegae, Hanwha also entered winery acquisitions, but the pioneer of the domestic wine business is Lotte. Having accumulated know-how by producing the longest-running domestic wine 'Majuang,' launched in 1977, Lotte is recently strengthening its wine business competitiveness centered on Lotte Chilsung Beverage and Lotte Shopping. Last year, Lotte Mart established a dedicated wine team called 'Project W Team' and opened the wine specialty store 'Bottle Bunker' in December. Based on the success of the first store, they expanded to Changwon and Gwangju.

Lotte Chilsung, responsible for wine import operations, is reviewing acquisitions of multiple overseas wineries. In an earlier IR report, Lotte Chilsung announced plans to acquire wineries, stating that in addition to factories for soju and beer, they would add wineries to optimize liquor production and supply chain management.

Hyundai Department Store Group is also strengthening its wine distribution business. In March, Hyundai Department Store established the import and distribution company Vino H, focusing on discovering and exclusively importing organic premium wines rather than mass-imported mid-range wines. Currently, they have imported about 100 types of wines from 10 wineries in France and Italy, with plans to expand the import items to around 300. Additionally, they plan to continuously expand their wine specialty store 'Wine Works.'

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.