The New Zealand Wine Festival 2018: Seoul Edition

This past weekend, the Kiwi Chamber of commerce hosted the 10th annual New Zealand Wine Festival at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seoul.

They’ll be hosting the second edition in Busan this weekend and trust me, it’s delectable. A few weeks back, I shared some choice information from The Kiwi Chamber Chairman, Tony Garrett and the Project Manager Sunny Myung and they were spot on. The event was fabulous.

There are over 20 wineries and some really enjoyable wine to try. Arielle of Soju4Two and I were on hand to rub shoulders with some fellow winos and to purely discover some New Zealand wine. <– The theme this year was “Pure Discovery, New Zealand Wine”.

The event itself has grown immensely in the 10 years that it has been held in Korea.

In the beginning there were fifteen wineries and 150 guests. Now, the Kiwi Chamber has 24 wineries participating and over 700 guests come out to the festivities in Seoul and Busan. The event in Seoul was held on the grassy lawn of the Grand Hyatt Seoul and performances by Global Haka and DJ Blaze were held just in front of a beautiful waterfall on the premises.

This past Saturday, the tree limbs were swaying in the warm spring winds and the organizers provided picnic blankets for festival goers to use on the lawn as they ate everything from a BBQ buffet to pasta salads, chilis, fruits and vegetable salads. There were dessert bars, popcorn, cheese and cracker stalls and everything else you could possibly want with a good glass of wine.

I went around tasting the Savignon Blancs from a number of stalls. No, I did not get to all twenty-four though there was much effort put in to see if I could. The vendors were knowledgeable and passionate about their wines so for someone like me who maybe isn’t very in-the-know about wines but loves to drink them, it was a great opportunity to talk with people that know their stuff. I honestly enjoyed everything I tasted and now want to stock up on everything in the nifty New Zealand wine guide that was given out at the event.

Some key wines to look for that I was clued into by the promotion staff were:

• Babich Wines with two Sauvignon Blancs and a Pinot Noir
• Hunter’s with a Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Noir and a Sparkling
• Wooing Tree with 2 Pinot Noirs and a Blanc De Noir
• Raparura Springs with a Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and a Merlot
• Te Pa with a Sauvignon Blanc and a Pinot Noir

Others participating wineries include Kim Crawford, Clos Henry, Palliser Estate, Pancarrow, Schubert and Marlborough Sun.

If you’re headed to the sister event down in Busan on the weekend, look out for these, but really, you won’t go wrong with anything that is being poured in my opinion.

To get a more action filled take of the event, check out Arielle’s video. She did a great job capturing the fun afternoon.

As I mentioned in the lead up to the event, there were also performances and lucky draws so there was a lot to see and enjoy throughout the time as well. Global Haka did an amazing job dancing and singing for the event and they even got a group of men up front to take off their shirts and perform a Haka at one point.

The group of men, picked from the spectators, probably wasn’t expecting that, but it was sure fun to watch. When it came time for the lucky draw, Arielle, the luckiest person I know, held all of our tickets and…. as expected because like I said, she’s so lucky… we actually won! Our grab bag of goodies was an array of cheeses, alcohol, crackers and other New Zealand goods we were overjoyed to take home with us.

The soiree was a lovely way to spend the evening out and about with my bestie dressed up in some nice duds and I cannot say thank you enough to The Kiwi Chamber for inviting us to partake. This is definitely an event I will look forward to every year.

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