Shinsegae introduces $365,000 wine set as Chuseok gift

Liber Pater Vintage Collection

Shinsegae Department Store is offering an ultra-premium wine set priced at 500 million won ($365,000) as a Chuseok gift this year. Despite the economic downturn, demand for premium gifts, particularly rare high-end wines, continues to grow while climate change reduces grape production.

According to industry sources on Monday, Shinsegae has prepared the “Liber Pater Vintage Collection” as a Chuseok gift this year. Liber Pater is a Bordeaux wine, often regarded as the most expensive in the world, and is famously known to have been enjoyed by Emperor Napoleon and Empress Joséphine.

The collection consists of six bottles produced between 2006 and 2015, with a set priced at 500 million won. The vintages from 2010, 2011, and 2015 are priced at an average of 100 million won per bottle, while those from 2006, 2007, and 2009 are priced slightly lower. The company said that typically, set items are sold only as a set, but for this product, individual bottle sales are possible.

With an annual production of just 1,500 bottles, Liber Pater is usually sold to individual collectors rather than corporations. To secure this product, Shinsegae’s team dedicated six months to the effort, sending 600 messages to the producer. This marks the first time a Korean company has been able to distribute Liber Pater.

The Wineseller opened on June 10 at Shinsegae’s Gangnam store, a 1,300 square meter wine cellar showcasing over 5,500 types of wines. [Courtesy of Shinsegae Department Store]

Shinsegae is aggressively targeting the high-end wine market, as demand continues to rise. The opening of a 1,300 square meter wine cellar at Shinsegae’s Gangnam store on June 10 this year is a testament to this focus. The wine cellar within the “House of Shinsegae” showcases over 5,500 types of wines, about half of which are rare items.

Since the opening of the wine cellar, sales of high-priced wines have surged. From the cellar’s opening until the end of last month, sales of wines priced over 300,000 won at Shinsegae Department Store increased by 84 percent compared to the same period last year, and sales of wines priced over 1 million won rose by 79 percent.

The rising demand for fine wines is attributed to increased rarity due to climate change. Droughts, extreme heat, and floods have made grape production and wine making increasingly challenging. According to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), global wine production last year dropped by 10 percent compared to the previous year, reaching 237 million hectoliters, the lowest since 1961.