Reader's Echo

By Ken Kim
Times Wine Writer
G
etting feedba.ck. borh positi.e
and negative, from readers is
a joy for this writer
and here is one letter that I can t just
pass up but share with you. I decided
to quote this particular reader's com-
ments in their entirety because he
took the extra effort to express his
view on a subject that many other:>
choose not to discuss. Likewise. the
content of his comments has the ele-
ments which 1 myself have over-
looked in the past.
The writer of the letter is the Minis-
ter Counselor for the Economic and
Commercial Affairs Section of the
Embassv of Chile in Seoul. Some of
you out 'there may say that he was on-
ly doing his job by promoting the
wines of Chile, but for promotional
purposes or not, his writing deserves
the public spotlight as you may agree.
For those of you out there, don't hesi-
tate to send in your comn1ents, good
or bad. since I will carefully review
them all. The following is the text
Dear Mr.
I have been reading your column
since I came to Korea lasr Mav. It is
a very interesting one and r hope it
can provide more insight to the com-
mon consumer that still is not well
aware about the pleasure of drinking
wine and the merits it has for one s
health when you are a sane
drinker.''
My experience being near to a Kore-
an market is that wines are consid-
ered fancy, expensive and good at the
beginning. For the public. especially
when economies face hard time;;,
keep some distance from purchasing
wine. The image of .. just for recep-
tions" or to be drunk at hotels during
special dinners has been built erro-
neously.
ln addition. France has been so
clever to make the wine concept al-
most a hegemony and p..-:necrutc the
mass wirh an thar good wine
should be It is certain they
NOVEMBER 23, 2000
have amazing wines. even superb.
but someone hus to teach and orient
the public opinion mward obtaining
knowledge about this noble prod-
uct. You can do a lot about this be-
cause thert- is a tremendous lack of
information and even misinforma-
tion.
Durin: vears in a nearbv
W<lrke-S very hard to make
Chilean wines verv well kn()wn m:J
f\lrttmntclv I succeeded. m
the Korean m:.u-ket, it mal\.es re ..
member when I 1rid convi:Ke im-
porter:;; that Chilean wines were
altemativc.
Wine was created to be used for
men to enjoy and to celebrate. For
some, it helps to .forget a lost love. or
to create a long lasting friendship. It
is a l.i ving thing and a good compan-
ion. In my modest opinion, wine is
that needs lo be close to
anyone; the poor or the rich. It needs
to be attainable Md also under,;;tood.
Wine talks to our tedings and sensa-
tions. it is and sweet enough to
an atmosphere and help our
spirits.
I respect and celebrate the wines
from al! over the world. since there
are many varidies produced by many
different countries. But I also wonder
how to make people become more
71
terested in this wonderful creation
and make them feel something like a
"Oh if s also for me'' idea. People do
not understand concepts like "Ter
rere ... "Bouquet." "Full or Light
Bodied," etc .. especially those who
are not even connected to the taste of
wine.
Mr. Kim, you can do a lot more to
improve public knowledge. You are
probably oue of the few serious wine
writers in Korea. I am just trying to
discover ocher wi.ne writers and it is
not easy. I do not know if in newspa-
pers written Korean some other
columnists are doing the same thing
that vou are doing at The Korea
Times. I will appreciate if you can
recommend some because we are in
this lovely country, and to use the lo-
cal language should be the proper
thing.
Some of us come and go around the
world with the mission to build
bridges between our country and oth
ers (I started to learn Korean) and the
most ideal way to really know a
councry and its people. their heart
and ro contribute to a mutual under
standing is first throuzh the lan-
,guage. f do not want be an oul-
sider here. Korea is too nice to miss a
piece of it.
Sorrv for this lom! message, but vou
surely will understand what I mean
with all this. Looking forward to
reading vour enl iuhccninu: future
columns. with my best and -wannest
regards.
Signed Dario Guzman
Minister Counselor for the /:;(:onom-
ic and Commen;iai Affairs, Embassy
of Chile.
Senior Guzman, so much
for vour wonderful letter. You reallv
touched areas I have overlooked
in the past. es_f.)<!cially wh .. you
mcnted on the irn;tge of
wine. wine <m!v ro Sl)C
ci:il ;:t the fancy horel
r<mts and wilo know:> by who just
a few points \1) 1 no
doubt ttun mv mh0r read::rs out
will equally ;igrec with me on this.