Have you tried Japanese wine before? Let’s taste one and find out what it’s all about.
Japanese Wine
Like in a recent post about tasting my first English wine, this is my first time tasting Japanese wine. Just like England, Japan is more known for other alcoholic beverages rather than wine. Sake, whiskey and beer are the first to come to my mind, and I’ve had them all before. I’ve even talked about wine pairings for Asian foods like sushi in this blog, but I could never find an actual Japanese grape-based wine to see how it pairs with sushi.
After doing a bit of research, I learned that Japanese vineyards surprisingly have a history dating back to the 8th century CE. Almost all of them have been for table grapes rather than wine though. However, Western influence in the late 20th century spurred an interest in wine in Japan. There’s even a Japanese Manga (now TV) series about wine tasting called Drops of God, which has influenced and been influenced by growing wine consumption in Asia but mostly of foreign wines.
One problem for Japanese winemakers is handling the humidity. Most wine is produced in Yamanashi with some also in the Nagano and Yamagata prefectures, which all have humid continental climates. Still, some domestic wineries have popped up. To deal with humidity, they grow grapes that are trellised on overhead pergolas, but this yields many, bigger bunches of grapes that lack concentration. The most featured grape is Koshu, an indigenous white variety that’s most likely a hybrid grape and not completely vitis vinifera like most wine grape varieties. The grape itself is a pretty, translucent pink color.
A couple of years ago I read an article about Koshu being grown in Napa called Kazumi but production is still limited to a few hundred cases, so it’s hard to find and relatively expensive. More recently, I started noticing a few specialty wine shops in California selling Japanese wines at an entry level price from Katsunuma Winery, imported by Skurnik. Thus, I finally got a chance to try Japanese wine during my last visit to California. I paired it with sushi.
Tasting Notes
2023 Katsunuma Jozo Koshu Aruga Branca Clareza Yamanashi Japan
Screw-cap. Stainless steel fermentation and then aged in ceramic tanks on lees for 6 months. Clear pale yellow color. The nose is brighter than the palate which is lower in acid, watery in texture with a fruity but subtle profile. Low alcohol (11.5%) and light-bodied. The nose is more floral. The palate is sort of like sweet cucumber water with flower petals or slightly unripe white peach. It’s fresh in a more neutral way and not necessarily with lots of citrusy acidity like other whites. The finish has a savory mineral side to it after 30 minutes as it warms up. Same on the nose, which shows more herbal notes as it warms up. A little more acidity too. Easy to drink and something meant to be a companion to delicate food but flavorful food like sushi rather than be the star, but I like its uniqueness and subtlety. It’s not an in your face, show off wine, but it’s not a closed wine either. It has an understated beauty. 89