Discover Ha Jung-woo’s New ‘Makiki’ Riesling: A Perfect Spring Wine for Korean Cuisine

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This is the perfect spring wine — and it even tames the heat of Korean food, Ha Jung-woo said at the March 16 opening of Makiki Atelier, a wine pop-up collaboration between 7-Eleven and Lotte Department Store. About 100 customers, many of them appearing to be Ha’s fans, packed the venue and showed strong interest.

7-Eleven x Lotte Department Store’s Ha Jung-woo Makiki Atelier pop-up marked the launch of the second bottle in Ha’s Makiki wine series. The label art was created by Ha himself, inspired by the Makiki neighborhood in Honolulu where he goes to relax.

7-Eleven first introduced Makiki wine last year in an exclusive collaboration, launching with a Sauvignon Blanc. That initial run of 200,000 bottles sold out in three weeks, and total sales eventually hit roughly 1 million bottles.

For the second release, 7-Eleven teamed up with Ha again to produce a Riesling. Riesling is one of the three major white-grape varieties, and this Makiki Riesling comes from the Columbia Valley in Washington state, a region well known for its Riesling production.

7-Eleven will offer a limited pre-sale of 500 bottles per day at the pop-up through the 1st of next month, then begin full sales at all 7-Eleven locations starting on the 1st.

Ha Jung-woo: The acidity is more balanced — an easy, everyday wine
Ha arrived five minutes early for a scheduled 3 p.m. appearance and spent more than ten minutes touring the pop-up. He described the new wine as having more balanced acidity and abundant fruity aromas, calling it an easy, everyday sipper.

The pop-up sold eight Makiki-branded goods — MagSafe card wallets, coasters, wine glasses, reusable totes, chilling bags, and more — all featuring Ha’s artwork. Ha, who also paints, applied his own illustrations to the products.

There was also a “Design Your Own Label” station where visitors could stick on hand-drawn labels, and a photo zone set among Ha’s paintings so fans could snap artist-style photos.

At the event, Ha suggested pairing Makiki wine with Korean dishes. He displayed his own drawings of spring flounder, a plate of bossam, and salted squid, annotating each piece with notes on how the pairings felt to him.

With the first Makiki release a major hit, 7-Eleven is optimistic about round two. Jo Soo-kyung, head of product at 7-Eleven, said, \”The first Makiki release sold about 1 million bottles. For this second release, we brought an initial 600,000-bottle run, and our immediate goal is to sell out that initial stock.\”