Finally, World-Class Wine From Japan

For decades, critics wouldn’t give Japan’s wine industry a second sniff—but a new wine from a local grape could change all that. One firm’s koshu wine has won over taste buds from France to the US, the Guardian reports. The “crisp and pleasant” Cuvée Denis Dubourdieu is “clearly meant to be a wine to guzzle with sushi or sashimi,” noted wine critic Robert Parker.

“Japan has the potential to be a major winegrowing region," says a Tokyo wine merchant. "It makes sense that Japan should have a viable wine export industry, when you consider that there are hundreds of Japanese restaurants in New York alone.” But “we can't force people to drink our wine; all we can do is tell them that Japan is serious about winemaking,” says a regional Japanese official.
(More wine stories.)