Japan is famous for its sake, a rice wine, but Grape wine has been made in Japan for hundreds of years or more. Beer and whisky have also gained a place in the consciousness of modern Japanese, and have even become important contributors to the national economy.
Winemaking has a Long history in Japan, and there are several stories surrounding its origins. The most common is that in 718 AD, a Buddhist monk named Gyoki planted the first vineyards at Daizenji Temple, near Katsunuma (southwest of Tokyo).
Traditionally, the vast majority of grapes in Japan were grown only for eating, and little or no wine was produced. European wine was imported for the Japanese elite for much of the 16th century, but was banned for much of the 17th and 18th centuries under the Sakoku policy of Imperial isolationism. But things have changed rapidly in recent decades. In the 1970s, Japanese interest in the West (and tourism) increased sharply.
Naturally, many Western fashions and traditions made their way into Japan, especially in the areas of food and drink. Wine consumption exploded and, although the focus was on imported wines, domestic wine production naturally increased accordingly.
Today, Japanese viticulture has yet to take hold in the world, as the majority of the country's grapes are grown for the table rather than for the bottle. There are only a handful of grape varieties used for Japanese wine making, the most notable of which are the "native" Koshu, the European Muscat of Alexandria and the Japanese Hybrid Muscat Bailey A.
Merlot noir is a grape variety that originated in France (Bordeaux). It produces a variety of grape specially used for wine making. It is rare to find this grape to eat on our tables. This variety of grape is characterized by small to medium sized bunches, and medium sized grapes. Merlot noir can be found in many vineyards: South West, Languedoc & Roussillon, Cognac, Bordeaux, Loire Valley, Armagnac, Burgundy, Jura, Champagne, Rhone Valley, Beaujolais, Provence & Corsica, Savoie & Bugey.
sparkling wines from the region of Japan go well with generally quite well with dishes of shellfish, lean fish or veal such as recipes of mussels with beer, small fry or stuffed quails.
On the nose in the region of Japan often reveals types of flavors of tree fruit, red fruit. In the mouth in the region of Japan is a .
Shirakawa 1958 is the only official single malt bottling from the demolished distillery, and is also said to be the earliest single vintage Japanese whisky bottled to date, although part of its back story remains shrouded in mystery. The whisky was distilled at the Shirakawa distillery, located 200km north of Tokyo, in 1958, and survived an era when Shirakawa’s malt whisky was almost all used in owner Takara Shuzo’s flagship ‘King’ blend. Shirakawa was opened in Fukushima Prefecture by previous ...
A methuselah of Romanée-Conti 1976 from Burgundy’s vaunted Domaine de la Romanée-Conti was among the highlights in a two-day series of Sotheby’s wine and spirits auctions in Hong Kong last weekend. The six-litre bottle sold for HK$1.25m (US$159,350), against a pre-sale estimate range of HK$1m to HK$1.4m. In a separate spirits auction, a single bottle of Yamazaki 35 Year Old Japanese whisky fetched HK$1m (US$127,440). Rare white Burgundy was also in-demand during the weekend event. Top lot in a f ...
The largest-ever year for entries, an incredible 18,244 wines were judged at the 2022 Decanter World Wine Awards – with just 163 wines awarded a Platinum medal. ‘Winning a Platinum medal is something really exceptional’ said Decanter World Wine Awards Co-Chair Sarah Jane Evans MW. ‘Platinum is like the stratospheric level’ she commented, ‘so it’s really saying to the winemaker: this is a great wine.’ Making up just 0.87% of the total wines tasted at the 2022 c ...
