Japanese Wines Have Taken Flight

Today’s foodie is far more sophisticated than in recent years. With the increasing coverage of food and wine from the Food Network, to an increase in publications and social networks, many are looking beyond the obvious old and new world wines when it comes to their wine choices and food pairings, at home and while traveling.

At today’s top restaurants and local bistros, the average customer is far more adventurous and worldly when choosing their wine. California still has its place in the American wine culture as do the Italian and French. They will forever reign in the viticulture world. However, they may have to make room for otherworldly wines that are starting to boom in the most unlikely places.

China, India and Lebanon are the three hot regions of late. China and India have an advantage with their large domestic population and their many ethnic outposts in the US willing to pour and pair the cuisine with their wines. Surprisingly many of these wine regions have a long history in winemaking dating back several centuries.

Another unlikely region is Japan, whose wine making appears to be taking flight. In China, local wines are being embraced domestically. In Japan there is a snobbism towards the local wines. So, local produces, which are growing in numbers with 150 some wineries, have risen above it and taken their wines to the friendlier skies.

Japan Airlines introduced wine from Japan to its business class wine list. The wines are produced from the indigenous Japanese Koshu grape variety where the wine is left to age in the vat in contact with the lees or sediments through winter to spring. This pleasant pale golden dry white wine has a cloak of acidity well balanced with an invigorating fruity taste. 
Clareza comes from the Katsunuma winery of the Aruga family who has a 70-year history of winemaking in the Katsunuma district in Yamanashi Prefecture, now known as Koshu City, 100 kilometers (62.5 miles) west of Tokyo. Yamanashi is the home of the “Koshu” grape, indigenous to Japan and successfully cultivated there after its introduction from China 800 years ago.

As pairing is key in today’s cuisine, one of the great merits of these new Koshu style wines is their compatibility with Japanese food as well as with European cuisine.

Apart from the new business class selection, JAL is offering two other Aruga Koshu varietals in their new 2007 first class wine list. These are the Aruga Branca Issehara 2006 and the Aruga Branca Pipa 2003. Differences in ‘terroir’ produce slight differences among the Koshu grapes from various grape-growing districts of Katsunuma. This elegant wine from the single vineyard of Issehara in the district is fruity but “off dry” with a hint of sweetness.

“Pipa” is made first by fermenting specially selected Koshu grapes of concentrated fruit and fully developed acidity, then by maturing in French oak casks for six months to ensue a firm body.

In addition to the new range of Koshu white wines, JAL has also selected a Japanese red for the first class wine list, a Solaris Shinshu Komoro Merlot 2003. This comes from the Osato district of Komoro City on the Chikuma River in eastern Nagano Prefecture, where Manns Wine, a major Japanese wine-maker, has been growing Merlot grapes using special techniques to suit Japanese conditions. Only the highest quality grapes from the vineyard, amounting to a third of the average yield, are used in the vintage. The vineyard is covered for protection from the elements. The resulting wine, with a bouquet of vanilla from virgin oak casks, offers a sound and round aftertaste of fruit and tannin.

Japan Airlines (JAL) has won the Best First Class Red category in the prestigious “Cellars in the Sky” wine awards organized by Business Traveler Magazine and Wine and Spirit Magazine (formerly Wine International).

During a two-day tasting held in October 2006, teams of experts from Wine and Spirit Magazine judged and compared wines from some 30 international airlines’ First and Business class in-flight wine cellars to award winners across 14 categories.  

JAL’s first and business class wine lists feature a selection of over 20 wines from around the world to ensure that passengers always have a balanced and varying range of wines to choose from. Passengers can enjoy exquisite wines produced by the established vineyards of France, Germany and Italy, as well as from Japan and the New World including Australia, Chile, and the USA.

Today Japanese wine makers are producing varietal wines of great quality, including chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and merlot, and today wines from Japan are among the medal winners at international wine festivals and exhibitions.

Among the better-known brands that have won awards is the Mercian Corporation, with sensational merlots from Kikyogahara in Nagano prefecture and luscious chardonnays from the Hokushin district in the same prefecture. JAL featured the Mercian 1995 Kikyogahara Merlot in First Class. Other leading makers producing good quality top of the line ranges include liquor giant Suntory, the beer-backed Sapporo Wines and Mann’s Wine.

The cost of top quality domestic wines tends to be higher than many quality imports. Production of the top domestic wines is limited and supplies are hard to come by. As a result the profile of domestic wine in general is low and suffers from old prejudices based on poor quality production in the past.

Next time in flight on JAL take a page and a pour out of Japans future by asking for a rare and highly coveted domestic wine. You’ll be way ahead of the curve.

By Karen Loftus