South Korea
Find wine importers and distributors in South Korea
The market at a glance
- Currency
- South Korean Won (KRW)
- Minimum drinking age
- 19 years
How it works
How to export wine to South Korea with Asiavino
In South Korea, wine is ordered online and collected in the shop
Korean law lets a liquor retailer take orders online only when the wine is handed over in person at its shop. On Asiavino, buyers in South Korea therefore order your wines online and collect them at your distributor’s shop, which checks their ID at the handover. Nothing is delivered.
Create your brand
Open a free Merchant Studio account and add your brand with its company details.
Add your wines
Send a bottle photograph and a technical sheet for each wine: Asiavino's team builds the wine page from them.
Name or find a distributor
Invite the importer or distributor that already carries your wines in this market. With no partner yet, Trade Connect shows your brand here and lets the trade contact you.
Receive order requests
Buyers send order requests to your distributor, who confirms them, takes payment and hands the wine over in person at its shop. Asiavino sells no wine.
Are you a distributor or an importer? Open the Distributor Studio
Finding a partner
How to find a wine importer or distributor in South Korea
Asiavino introduces your brand; it does not choose an importer for you and cannot promise you one. Importers and distributors in this market discover your wines and ask you for more, and the decision to work together stays between you and them.
Present your brand in full
Importers judge a brand by its range. Add your brand story and every wine with a bottle photograph and a technical sheet, and keep your commercial information ready for the first reply: export prices, available volumes and the markets you already serve.
Be visible before you have a distributor
With Trade Connect, your brand page and your wines are shown in this market, as in every Asiavino market, even though no distributor carries them yet. Buyers cannot send order requests for them there: the pages invite professionals to contact you instead.
Let professionals ask for more
With Trade Connect, importers, distributors, wine shops, restaurants and hotels can send you a trade enquiry from your wine pages and from articles about your brand: a price list, samples, a tasting or distribution rights. Once the sender has confirmed their email address, Asiavino passes the enquiry on to you and you reply directly.
Add the partner you choose
When an importer or distributor agrees to carry your wines here, add it in your Merchant Studio and it receives an invitation at once. Once it accepts and sets up your wines, buyers in this market can send it order requests.
Listing and Trade Connect
Start free, add reach when you need it
Listing is free: list every wine and receive order requests through the distributors you name. Trade Connect, the paid plan for each brand, adds a brand page, visibility where no distributor carries you yet and enquiries from the trade.
Trade Connect is not bought market by market: it makes your brand visible in every Asiavino market, including South Korea.
Listing
Free
Sell your wines in the markets where you already have distributors.
- Unlimited wine listings
- Visibility in markets covered by your licensed distributors
- Brand name displayed as text, without a dedicated brand page
- Visibility in search results and category pages
- No editorial articles or display banners
- Unlimited event listings
Upgrade to Trade Connect at any time as your business grows.
Trade Connect
USD 50
Be seen across Asia-Pacific and take your exports to new markets.
| Feature | ListingFree | Trade ConnectUSD 50 per month · USD 500 per year |
|---|---|---|
| Reach & distribution | ||
| Wine listings | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Visibility in markets covered by your licensed distributors | Included | Included |
| Visibility in markets with no distributor yet | Not included | Included |
| Order requests routed to your local distributors | Included | Included |
| Trade connections | ||
| Contact tool for importers, distributors and trade buyers | Not included | Included |
| Brand presence | ||
| Brand name displayed | Included | Included |
| Dedicated brand page and story | Not included | Included |
| Promotion | ||
| Visibility in search results and category pages | Included | Included |
| Articles about your brand | Not included | Included |
| Display banners across the site | Not included | Included |
| Events | ||
| Event listings | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Event sales kit | Not included | Included |
| Performance statistics | ||
| Order request statistics by market | Not included | Real-time |
| Audience and content statistics | Not included | Included |
Your current partners
Already selling wine in South Korea? Support your local distributor
Asiavino works alongside the importer you already have. Buyers in South Korea read your wine pages in Korean or English, discover your brand, and send their order requests to your partner, who handles the rest.
Wine pages in the buyers' language
Asiavino's team builds a page for each wine from your technical sheet and translates it into the languages of the site, so buyers here read about your wines in the language they use.
Discovery of your brand
Buyers come across your wines as they browse the catalogue by region and grape variety. With Trade Connect, your brand page tells your story beside them.
Order requests for your partner
When a buyer here asks for one of your wines, the order request goes to your distributor, who confirms it, takes payment and hands the wine over in person at its shop. Asiavino takes no commission on it, and your dashboard shows how each wine performs in this market.
Before you start
What to know before exporting wine to South Korea
A liquor import licence for the importer
Under the Liquor Licence Act, a business that sells liquor, brokering included, needs a licence from the head of the tax office for each place of sale. The liquor import and export business is one of the licence types, so your wines enter South Korea through an importer that holds it.
Source: Liquor Licence Act, Enforcement Decree of the Liquor Licence Act
Your winery registered before the first import
Under the Special Act on Imported Food Safety Control, the importer or the producer registers the overseas manufacturing facility, with its name, location and products, with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety before the import declaration. The registration lasts two years. The importer also registers its business and declares each import of food for sale.
Source: Special Act on Imported Food Safety Control, Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, overseas facility registration
Customs duty and liquor taxes
The Korea Customs Service gives the taxes on an imported wine as customs duty at 15%, liquor tax at 30% of the value plus duty, education tax at 10% of the liquor tax, and VAT at 10%. The customs rate can differ under a trade agreement, so your importer confirms the rate for each wine.
Source: Korea Customs Service, Liquor Tax Act, Education Tax Act
Korean labelling, added by the importer
Imported wine keeps the label of its country of origin, and the required information in Korean may be added on a printed sticker or label, firmly attached, that does not hide the product name or dates. The importer also marks the volume, place of production and alcohol strength, and the warning that liquor is not to be sold to minors.
Source: Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, food labelling standards, Enforcement Decree of the Liquor Licence Act, Youth Protection Act
Sources checked on October 12, 2026.
General information, not legal advice: your importer handles the formalities.
Questions and answers
Do I need a Korean importer to sell wine in South Korea?
Yes. Importing wine for sale takes a liquor import licence from the tax office and a registration with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, and selling it takes a liquor sales licence. Your wines reach buyers through a licensed importer, which also handles the import formalities.
What does a wine importer handle in South Korea?
The importer holds the liquor import licence, registers your winery as an overseas manufacturing facility if you have not done so, declares each import to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, clears customs and pays the duty and liquor taxes, and adds the Korean label before the wine is sold.
How can I find a wine importer in South Korea?
Look for importers whose range and sales channels suit your wines: some supply restaurants, hotels and wine bars, others wine shops, department stores or retail chains. An importer in South Korea holds a liquor import licence from the tax office and a registration with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, which you can ask about before agreeing terms. On Asiavino, importers in South Korea can discover your brand and send you an enquiry, and you decide whether to follow it up: Asiavino makes the introduction, it does not choose or guarantee a partner.
Can I promote my wines in South Korea before finding a distributor?
Yes, with Trade Connect. Your brand page and your wines are shown to visitors in South Korea, in Korean and English, even though no distributor carries them yet. They cannot send order requests for those wines: the pages offer a trade enquiry instead, and your dashboard shows which wines draw enquiries and from which types of business, so you can measure interest before you choose a partner.
Can I use Asiavino if I already have an importer in South Korea?
Yes, and it is free on Listing. Add your importer in the Merchant Studio: once it accepts the invitation and sets up your wines, buyers in South Korea can send it order requests, with no commission to Asiavino. If you work with more than one importer in South Korea, add each of them. Trade Connect is only needed if you also want a brand page and trade enquiries.
What information should I prepare for wine buyers in South Korea?
Your winery's name, address and the wines it produces, so your importer can register it with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety before the first shipment, and a technical sheet for each wine giving its alcohol content and ingredients, from which the Korean label is written. Add an export price list, the volumes you can supply and your brand story with photographs. Importers often ask for samples before they decide, so say how you send them.
Does Asiavino import or sell my wine?
No. Asiavino does not buy, import or sell wine. It transmits each order request to a licensed local importer or distributor, who confirms it, takes payment, hands the wine to the buyer in person at its shop and handles any refund.
What does it cost?
Listing is free. Trade Connect, the paid plan, adds a brand page, visibility in markets where you have no distributor yet and enquiries from importers, distributors and trade buyers.
Who handles import formalities and duties?
The importer of record in the market. Asiavino does not import, so licences, customs declarations, duties and labelling are handled by your importer or distributor.