In-Flight Wine Club – United States
Korean Air
Period
2024
Format
Documentary Series
Location
California
Overview
The final episode of Korean Air's In-Flight Wine Club documentary series, following Marc Almert as he travels to California's Napa and Sonoma Valleys to uncover the essence of American wine, where innovation and tradition coexist.
Thematic
Culture-driven premium branding
What We Did
Documentary planning, global production, post-production
Context
Since the 1976 Judgment of Paris brought global recognition to American wine, Napa Valley has become a symbol of bold innovation, while Sonoma Valley has carved its own path with a more modest yet distinctive approach. This episode was designed to explore the cultural significance and brand value of the American wine industry through these two emblematic regions.
Challenge
A key challenge was shaping the final episode to reflect Marc Almert’s global journey without feeling repetitive, while providing a sense of closure. Napa and Sonoma presented distinct winemaking attitudes which the team had to differentiate in storytelling without losing cohesion. Highlighting those contrasts and tying them together under a shared narrative required careful structural planning and close collaboration across editorial, creative, and post teams.
Solution
The team adopted a retrospective structure for the entire series, following Marc Almert's complete journey across three continents. Contrasting narratives were built around challenge and innovation in Napa Valley and creativity in rusticity in Sonoma Valley, while allowing both regions to converge on a common identity as the land of dreams. This approach created thematic coherence that connected the American episode to the broader series narrative while providing emotional closure to Marc's global wine exploration.
Watch
In-Flight Wine Club - United States
From the Team
"Despite the pressure of making the final installment of the series, the passionate stories of the winemakers we met in Napa and Sonoma naturally coalesced around one keyword: dreams. As we captured Marc's final journey, we could really feel our own love for the series."
Diane Yoo
Producer
Credit
Director
Executive Producer
Producer
Assistant Director
Writer
Cinematographer
Yoonseop Kim
Minseok Kim
Diane Yoo
Shiheon Lee
Nari Lee
Andy Choi
Credit
DirectorYoonseop Kim
Executive ProducerMinseok Kim
ProducerDiane Yoo
Assistant DirectorShiheon Lee
WriterNari Lee
CinematographerAndy Choi
