Library
The Wine Library
Profiles, guides, and field notes on the producers, regions, grapes, and places that shape our work — including many we admire but don’t import.
Producers
Winemakers we’ve visited, tasted with, and admire
Regions
Wine regions and appellations, from our notes in the field
Grapes
Grape varieties and how they express themselves
Glossary
Wine terminology explained from an importer’s perspective
Places
Shops, restaurants, and bars where we love to drink
Atlas
The Japanese reference content as a single editorial map.
Recent Additions
Villa Aida (ヴィラ アイーダ)
Villa Aida (ヴィラ アイーダ) is the Wakayama agriturismo restaurant of chef Koji Kobayashi (小林浩司). Operating in a remote Wakayama countryside setting with on-site vegetable production, Villa Aida combines Italian-trained technique with hyper-local Japanese ingredients and one of the country's most-thoughtful natural-wine pairing programs. The restaurant is a destination for serious Tokyo and international diners.
2011 — Small-Winery Deregulation Expansion
In 2011, the Japanese government expanded the Wine Tokku-ku (Wine Special District) framework to additional prefectures, broadening the 2003 deregulation that lowered the wine production threshold from 6,000 to 2,000 liters. The 2011 expansion brought additional Hokkaido municipalities, additional Nagano valleys, and other prefectural areas under the lower threshold — accelerating the small-domain scene's emergence.
Florilège (フロリレージュ)
Florilège (フロリレージュ) is Hiroyasu Kawate's Tokyo destination restaurant — French technique applied to Japanese ingredients, with one of the city's most-thoughtful Japanese-wine pairing programs. Multi-Michelin-starred and consistently among Asia's 50 Best Restaurants, Florilège has helped define how contemporary Tokyo fine-dining engages with Japanese wine.
INUA (closed 2021) — Tokyo Noma Spinoff
INUA (イヌア) was the Noma-affiliated Tokyo restaurant of chef Thomas Frebel, operating from 2018 to 2021. Closed during pandemic-era restructuring, INUA was historically important for its rigorous engagement with Japanese ingredients in a Noma-style hyperlocal-foraging framework, with serious Japanese-wine pairing. Despite the closure, the restaurant's influence on contemporary Tokyo fine-dining has been substantial.
Pre-1875 — Grape Cultivation in Japan Before Modern Wine
Grape cultivation in Japan has a long pre-modern history. The 718 AD Katsunuma origin myth, Kamakura-period (1185–1333) table-grape culture, and Edo-period (1603–1868) viticultural traditions established a centuries-deep grape-growing infrastructure that long preceded the 1875 first wine production attempt. Understanding pre-modern grape culture is necessary for understanding modern Japanese wine's structural foundations.
1983 — Mercian's Asai Pioneers Sur-Lie Koshu
In 1983, Mercian winemaker Usuke Asai (1930–2002) released the first sur-lie Koshu — the technique of extended lees aging that transformed Koshu from simple table-grape-derived white into a serious fine-wine variety. The 1983 sur-lie release was the technical inflection point that made modern fine-wine Koshu possible; nearly every premium Koshu bottling produced since traces directly to Asai's 1983 innovation.
NARISAWA (ナリサワ)
NARISAWA (ナリサワ) is Yoshihiro Narisawa's Tokyo destination restaurant — innovative Japanese cuisine combining nature-driven aesthetics with French technique, paired with one of Tokyo's most-rigorous Japanese-wine programs. Multi-Michelin-starred, consistently among the World's 50 Best, NARISAWA has been one of the foundational restaurants institutionalizing Japanese wine within international fine-dining.
2013 — MBA OIV Registration + GI Yamanashi
In 2013, two foundational institutional events occurred for Japanese wine. Muscat Bailey A received OIV (International Organization of Vine and Wine) registration — international recognition of the variety as a legitimate wine grape. Separately, the National Tax Agency designated GI Yamanashi — Japan's first wine Geographic Indication. Together the two events represent 2013 as the institutional birth year of modern Japanese fine-wine standing.