NEWS
WINE-SEARCHER: THIS AFFORDABLE S. AFRICAN WINE IS MOST SEARCHED BY N. KOREANS
By Siulan Law Mathews DipWSET
5-5-2020
Source: Namaqua
A highly affordable red wine from South Africa is the most searched wine from the secret state of North Korea, according to data from popular wine search website wine-searcher.com.
Namaqua Dry Red - which is a blend of Pintotage, Shiraz and Ruby Cabernet - is produced by a winery in Western Cape of South Africa.
The wine comes in 750ml bottles as well as 1L, 3L and 5L boxes. The winery’s website put a price tag of R39.5 (USD2.15) for the bottle but shows no price for the boxes.
Wine-searcher.com said they noticed that there had been 32 searches in their database from North Korea five years ago. And more recently they have noticed that the number has increased to 77 in the past five years.
The only North Koreans who can use the internet are political leaders and their families, students at elite universities, and people who work for the nation's cyberwarfare units. Ordinary citizens who can afford a computer are relegated to using a state-controlled, domestic intranet called Kwangmyong which only allows access to a select list of censored websites.
Wine-searcher.com’s data thus provides a glimpse to the wine tastes of North Korean elites, possibly including that of the Great Leader Kim Jong-un who was reported to have a penchant for French wine and can drink 10 bottles of Bordeaux in one night.
The 77 searches involved 53 products, wine-searcher said, of them 34 are wines and 19 are spirits and liqueurs.
Wines from Bordeaux appeared to be popular. Château Kirwan, the Margaux Third Growth is on 4th place on the list, while wines with the Lafite name including DBR’s Lafite Collection Reserve Speciale Pauillac and Carruades de Lafite have also been searched.
Wines from Saint-Émilion on Bordeaux right bank have four wines on the searches including one from Chateau Angelus.
Three Burgundy wines appeared on the list. They are Baudricot Les Malsonsorts Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru, the same producer's Les Crots Nuits-Saint-George as well as the Louis Latour Bourgogne Pinot Noir.
Beyond France, the most dear wine on the list comes from Germany, Egon Müller's Scharzhofberger Riesling TBA has an average price of USD14,608.
Of the 19 spirits and liqueurs on the list, Scotch whiskies are prominently represented. Ballantine's 21 Year Old in third place, with its Christmas Reserve stablemate also being searched.
French Cognac Chivas Regal also has two products on the list, along with a couple of French brandies and two German brandies. Also on the list is a Filipino rum and two liqueurs from Argentina.
(the writer can be contacted at: info@thewinechronicle.com)
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