South Korea's only grape and wine industry special zone is located in Chungcheongbuk-do province.
From grape farming to barrel production, the region is looking to cover all the stages of wine making.
Park Se-young reports.
These containers hold wine made using grapes from Yeongdong County of Chungcheongbuk-do province.
The wine served at the dinner banquet at Cheong Wa Dae during the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics was produced at this winery.
Sales of wine from some 40 wineries in Yeongdong County have been nudging up thanks to word of mouth.
Now, the county is working to foster the wine barrel market.
This workshop received nearly 180-thousand U.S. dollars from the local government three years ago …to produce oak barrels using domestic oak trees.
This was aimed at reducing production costs and producing domestic wine with unique flavors.
After research, the company was able to overcome the bitter taste of Korean oak trees and produce barrels as good as those produced in Europe.
Yeongdong County was designated as Korea's only grape and wine industry zone in 2005, …and has been supporting brewing facilities at farming households since 2008.
Every year, the government sends trainee farmers to France and Italy to learn winemaking skills.
"If we're able to establish a solid basis for wine production, we can become number one in Korea and even look at overseas exports."
From viniculture to fermentation and barrel production, Yeongdong County is looking to make inroads into the wine industry.
Park Se-young, Arirang News.