Event: A Japanese Wine Odyssey

Celebrate and support Japan’s sterling wineries in a series of special events being held across the country this November.

Never has there been a better time to discover Japanese wine. While still an emerging industry with just over 300, primarily small-scale producers, Japan’s vineyards are already creating wines that rival their well-established counterparts overseas, garnering prestigious international accolades and a following around the world.

With the Coronavirus crisis forcing the doors closed on dining and hospitality venues for many months, the National Tax Authority (NTA) have teamed up with a number of prestigious wineries, sommeliers and restaurants around the country to organize a series of small-group tasting and semi-virtual talk events, intended to open up a whole new experience to those who may not yet familiar with Japanese wine and make it easier than ever to enjoy it at home.

Each venue will be linked by live video broadcast, with wine experts tuning in to address participants in all twelve cities.

Held over three separate dates in November, this free program includes:

● Six wine tastings with four appetizer (otsumami) pairings

● Talk by wine experts on enjoying Japanese wine at home

● Introduction to the winery (six participating wineries per date)

The featured wines will be available to purchase after the event. The option to order dishes crafted to complement the wines, as well as detailed food and drink notes by the restaurant are available at own expense.

Participants can choose either a 5pm or 7pm start on each date. Places are limited to 20 with socially distanced seating. Where a session is oversubscribed, participants will be selected in a random draw.

This event is in Japanese only, but participation by non-Japanese is highly welcomed.

Sign up using the registration form here.

Date: November 4th (Thurs), 18th (Wed), 25th (Wed), 2020

Time: 2 Sessions per day ①17:00-19:00 ②19:30-21:30

Place: GRANITA, Sapporo (map); Trattoria Companio, Sendai (map); Kalavinka, Tokyo (map); COLONIAL BEACH, Yokohama (map); JIM HALL, Kanazawa (map); Nanpu, Shinei branch, Nagoya (map); Tanmiya Bekkan, Osaka (map); Hiroshima Italian AO, Hiroshima (map), REGALO, Takamatsu (map), ONE DROP, Fukuoka (map), Ichinosoko, Kumamoto (map)

Available Seats: 20 seats per session per venue (1440 seats in total)

Price: FREE (tasting of 6 different wines and otsumami) *Food can be ordered at own expense

Organiser: National Tax Agency

Event run by: TV Asahi Corporation

Supported by: the Association of Japan Wine Lovers and Japan Airlines Co., Ltd. (JAL)

Enquiries: mailbox@kansaiscene.com (English) or 03-6205-8448 (Japanese)