What would surprise you about Japanese wine? Nick Rowan Shares An Intriguing Piece of History

Natalie MacLean
Oct28th

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Introduction

What would surprise you about Japanese wine? How has climate change transformed Japan’s once-frigid Hokkaido into one of its most promising wine regions? How did a chance encounter in a Japanese wine bar lead to a winemaker rediscovering a wine he’d almost forgotten making? How did a 13-year-old samurai smuggled out of Japan become California’s celebrated Wine King?

In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I’m chatting with Nick Rowan.

You can find the wines we discussed here.

 

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Highlights

  • What makes Japan’s wine world surprisingly small, even with regions hundreds of kilometres apart?
  • Why did Japanese wines once have a reputation for tasting artificially sweet and how have they since evolved?
  • What makes Japan’s wine industry so much more diverse than most wine lovers realize?
  • Why are some of the world’s lesser-known wine regions attracting adventurous wine lovers?
  • How are Japanese wineries using animals to manage their vineyards and support local communities?
  • What archaeological evidence suggests people in Japan made wine thousands of years ago?
  • Why do Japan’s geography and climate have more in common with New Zealand than with many traditional European wine regions?
  • Why is Japanese wine production relatively small and what challenges does that create?
  • How is climate change transforming Japan’s wine regions?
  • How did a 13-year-old samurai smuggled out of Japan become California’s celebrated Wine King?
  • What makes Japan’s climate challenging for growing traditional European wine grapes?
  • What gives the delicate, understated Koshu grape its distinctive character?

 

Key Takeaways

  • What would surprise you about Japanese wine?
    • The Japanese were getting drunk on grape juice about 5 or 6000 years ago. They haven’t got the exact date. But in the north, in Mori Prefecture, they found an archaeological site. I first discovered this in the book Japanese Drinks. the authors touched on it and it was really hard to find the information, even googling and reaching out to them just to find more. It’s Sanai Moriyama. And they found these pits where they had been fermenting the grapes. And then there was debate. Well, was it on purpose or accident? And because of this specific fruit fly remains that they found in it, that only happens when it’s been fermenting on a certain scale. They’re able to say they were doing it intentionally.
  • How has climate change transformed Japan’s once-frigid Hokkaido into one of its most promising wine regions?
    • Hokkaido is a northern island and that was not always part of Japan. So historically and ethnically they have been quite different. And the laws have been different up there. So it was difficult to consistently ripen grapes each year because it was just too cold. It’s subarctic, it could be -30, 40 degrees in some places, and they bury the vines under snow or under the earth. You know, they literally bury them and resurface them. But with global warming consistently year on year, you can get good grapes. And now it’s one of the best areas in Japan to grow certain grapes. So they’re the three hotspots. You’ve got the centre, Yamanashi, you’ve got Nagano, which people know the Olympics and the snow monkeys are there and internationally known. And then Hokkaido being very famous for skiing up in the north.
  • How did a chance encounter in a Japanese wine bar lead to a winemaker rediscovering a wine he’d almost forgotten making?
    • One of our first trips with my partner Amanda, we were in a wine bar in Yamanashi in Kofu. We like to get there early. We like to have a bit of time to relax, speak with the owner and there was one guy sitting at the bar. The owner was there and I said, look, what have you got that’s available by the glass? I said, Chi winery. I’m sure I’ve got a bottle of their orange wine at home. He says, no, they don’t do orange wine. He said, I’m pretty sure I’ve got a bottle. And he’s like, no. And he looks up at the guy at the bar and shakes his head no. I flicked through my phone. I said, look, it’s in my fridge in England at the moment. And his face drops and the guy at the bar, his face drops. He was the winemaker and he had completely forgotten about it. He made 400 bottles about three years previously, and I had picked up two at a wine market in Tokyo that we stumbled across, and they just happened to be at home, it happened to be in the fridge.

 

About Nick Rowan

Nick Rowan spent his early 20s in rural Japan, blissfully unaware of Japanese Wine. Having spent over a decade deep-diving into the world of wine, developing an interest in lesser-known grapes and wine regions, he has combined the two in this, his first book. He lives in Berkshire, UK, with his partner who has put up with his wine obsession the whole time. They both wish they had a pet cat.

 

Resources

 

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Thirsty for more?

  • Sign up for my free online wine video class where I’ll walk you through The 5 Wine & Food Pairing Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Dinner (and how to fix them forever!)
  • You’ll find my books here, including Unquenchable: A Tipsy Quest for the World’s Best Bargain Wines and Red, White and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass.
  • The new audio edition of Red, White and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass is now available on Amazon.ca, Amazon.com and other country-specific Amazon sites; iTunes.ca, iTunes.com and other country-specific iTunes sites; Audible.ca and Audible.com.

 

Transcript

 

Books and Wine, Books: Wine, Boxed Wine, Food & Wine Pairing, Podcasts, Serving Wine, Taste Wine, Wine Question, Wine Style, Wine Tasting, Wine Tasting Notes, Wine Trends, Wine Writing, Women and Wine