I’m in Japan. The purpose of this trip is to explore Nagano, which is one of the three main Japanese wine regions. Some perspective on the Japanese wine scene. Winegrowing started…
Great wines at Hibana, a natural wine bar in Tokyo
Last night I arrived in Tokyo and headed out to Hibana (3F Third Halcyon, 3-6 Araki Cho, Shinyinku-ku, Tokyo 160-0007). It’s a relatively new natural wine bar run by Atsushi…
Visiting two excellent sake producers
On my recent Japanese trip I had a chance to visit two high-end artisanal sake breweries. It was really interesting, especially coming from a wine background, to see how sake…
Japan eating: Omi beef sukiyaki at Restaurant Moroshima
Another great meal in Japan; another stop in this great gastronomic journey. This time, Omi beef sukiyaki at Restaurant Morishima, in Omi-hachaman in the Shiga prefecture not far from Kyoto….
An amazing meal at Houraiken, Nagoya, with Japanese wine
Hot on the heels of one of the most memorable meals of my life a few days ago in Tokyo, I had a very special experience last night, dining at…
Sushi Nishimura, Tokyo, with Chablis and Assyrtiko to match
I had one of the most amazing meals of my life in Tokyo. I was lucky enough to dine at Sushi Nishimura with Kenichi Ohashi, Yamamoto Akihiko and Moto Okoshi….
Tasting some Japanese wines from the Hokkaido region
Today I got to taste some Japanese wines, as part of a tasting for Yamamoto Akihiko’s www.winereport.jp publication. These wines are all from Hokkaido, a relatively new wine region in…
A remarkable tasting of sake
This was a remarkable evening, and my first exposure to high quality sake. It was at the Selfridges pop-up sake bar – billed as the world’s smallest, with just 6…
Adega d’Aruga Bosque 2014 Yamanashi, Japan
This is a lovely wine that I got to try this week courtesy of winemaker Youki Hirayama, who was over to judge at the International Wine Challenge. I reviewed one of…