Place
Places
Shops, restaurants, and bars where we love to drink.
Florilège (フロリレージュ)
Hiroyasu Kawate's Tokyo destination — French technique applied to Japanese ingredients, with one of the city's most-thoughtful Japanese-wine pairing programs
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.
Tokyo
Nagano Wine Month (信州ワイン月間)
Annual prefectural wine festival celebrating Nagano's emergence as Japan's third major wine prefecture — Tokyo events + producer visits + restaurant programs
Nagano Wine Month (信州ワイン月間) is the annual prefectural wine festival celebrating Nagano's wine identity. The festival combines Tokyo events, producer-region visits across the Chikumagawa, Northern Alps, and Tenryū valleys, and restaurant programs that pair Nagano wine with Tokyo and prefectural dining destinations. The festival is the principal trade and public-visibility event for Nagano's wine emergence.
Nagano
INUA (closed 2021) — Tokyo Noma Spinoff
Closed 2021. The Noma-affiliated Tokyo restaurant of Thomas Frebel — historically important for its rigorous engagement with Japanese ingredients and hyperlocal-foraging fine-dining, with serious Japanese-wine pairing
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.
Tokyo
Villa Aida (ヴィラ アイーダ)
Wakayama agriturismo restaurant — Italian-trained Koji Kobayashi's hyper-local farm-to-table cuisine paired with serious Japanese natural wine
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.
Wakayama
NARISAWA (ナリサワ)
Yoshihiro Narisawa's Tokyo destination — innovative Japanese cuisine pairing nature-driven cuisine with one of the city's most-rigorous Japanese-wine programs
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.
Tokyo
Koshu Wine Library (甲州ワインライブラリー)
A Katsunuma destination institution celebrating Koshu and Yamanashi wine — visitor-center, educational resource, and tasting venue for the prefecture's wine identity
Koshu Wine Library (甲州ワインライブラリー) is a Katsunuma-area destination institution celebrating Koshu and Yamanashi wine. The venue functions as a combined visitor-center, educational resource, and tasting space — providing a curated introduction to the prefecture's wine heritage for both Japanese and international visitors.
Yamanashi
Pizzakaya
A Roppongi pizzeria-cum-wine-bar that championed Japanese wine in Tokyo well before the contemporary natural-wine scene — a foundational venue in Tokyo Japanese-wine culture
Pizzakaya is a Roppongi pizzeria-cum-wine-bar that championed Japanese wine in Tokyo well before the contemporary natural-wine scene emerged. Operating since the 1990s, the venue has been a foundational Tokyo Japanese-wine destination — the place where many Tokyo professionals and international visitors first encountered serious Japanese wine.
Tokyo
Wine Shop Fujimaru (フジマル)
A Tokyo retailer with its own Osaka micro-winery — vertically integrated from production to retail, operating across the natural-wine and Japanese-wine spectrum
Wine Shop Fujimaru (フジマル) is a Tokyo wine retailer with its own Osaka micro-winery — uniquely vertically integrated from grape production to retail. The shop operates across the natural-wine and Japanese-wine spectrum, with the Osaka winery providing in-house Japanese-wine production alongside the broader retail selection.
Tokyo
I Keep (アイキープ)
A Tokyo wine shop with sommelier-curated selection — focused on quality over breadth, with strong Japanese-wine and natural-wine representation
I Keep (アイキープ) is a Tokyo wine shop operating in the sommelier-curated retail format. The shop's selection emphasizes quality over breadth, with strong Japanese-wine representation alongside imported natural and classical wines. The shop has earned a loyal following among Tokyo wine professionals and serious amateurs.
Tokyo
Katsumi Wine (勝美ワイン)
A Shibuya wine shop with strong Japanese-wine representation — sommelier-curated selection emphasizing serious natural and Japanese wines
Katsumi Wine (勝美ワイン) is a Shibuya wine shop with strong Japanese-wine representation. Operating in the sommelier-curated retail format alongside I Keep, Wine Shop Fujimaru, and similar venues, Katsumi has earned a following among Shibuya-area wine drinkers for its serious natural and Japanese-wine selection.
Tokyo
Shibuya Wine Stand
Tokyo standing wine bar in central Shibuya — accessible-priced glass-pours of Japanese and natural wines for the Shibuya foot-traffic crowd
Shibuya Wine Stand is a Tokyo standing wine bar in central Shibuya, offering accessible-priced glass-pours of Japanese and natural wines. The venue is part of the broader Tokyo standing-bar wine culture that has made Japanese wine accessible to non-specialist drinkers — meeting visitors where they are rather than requiring a destination-bar visit.
Tokyo
Nemoto Shōten (根本商店)
A traditional Tokyo liquor retailer that has evolved into a serious natural-wine and Japanese-wine destination — heritage shop within contemporary natural-wine culture
Nemoto Shōten (根本商店) is a traditional Tokyo liquor retailer that has evolved into a serious natural-wine and Japanese-wine destination. Operating in the heritage-format that combines sake, shōchū, and wine retail, Nemoto has integrated contemporary natural-wine and Japanese-wine selection alongside the traditional Japanese-spirits inventory.
Tokyo
Festivin
Tokyo’s anchor natural-wine festival — founded 2010 by Shinsaku Katsuyama, ~900 visitors annually, ~200 producers
Festivin (フェスティヴァン) is the anchor Tokyo natural-wine festival, founded 2010 by the late Shinsaku Katsuyama (Shōzui wine bar, Roppongi). The annual gathering brings ~900 visitors and ~200 wines together with food booths and live music — a "festival" rather than a tasting.
Tokyo
Den (Tokyo)
Zaiyu Hasegawa’s 2-star Michelin Jingumae restaurant — one of the most celebrated Tokyo destinations for serious Japanese-wine pairing
Den (傳) is chef Zaiyu Hasegawa’s 2-star Michelin restaurant in Jingumae, Tokyo. The restaurant has held two Michelin stars since the 2014 guide and earned a Michelin Green Star for sustainable gastronomy. Hasegawa’s playful, inventive Japanese menu makes Den one of Tokyo’s most respected destinations for serious Japanese wine.
Tokyo
Wineshop Flow
Naka-Meguro natural-wine specialist — retailer + bar combination, central to the Tokyo natural-wine retail network
Wineshop Flow is a natural-wine-focused retailer and bar in Naka-Meguro, Tokyo, central to the city’s natural-wine retail network. The shop combines retail bottle sales with by-the-glass pours and small-plate food, serving both the local Naka-Meguro neighborhood and the broader Tokyo natural-wine community.
Tokyo
Vinosity
Marunouchi’s Japanese-wine-focused restaurant — Tokyo dining with serious Yamanashi, Hokkaido, and Nagano wine programs
Vinosity is a wine-focused restaurant group in central Tokyo (with locations in Marunouchi, Otemachi, and elsewhere) known for treating Japanese wine as a serious category — the wine list spans Yamanashi, Hokkaido, Nagano, Yamagata, and Niigata, with by-the-glass programs that change seasonally.
Tokyo
Katsunuma Budō no Oka
Yamanashi’s public wine destination — taste 200 Yamanashi wines in one place, with hot spring and views of the Kofu Basin
Katsunuma Budō no Oka (勝沼ぶどうの丘, "Grape Hill") is the public wine destination operated by Koshu City in Yamanashi. Visitors pay a flat fee for access to the underground wine cellar holding around 200 different Yamanashi wines available for tasting — a year-round introduction to the prefecture’s wine industry.
Yamanashi
Winestand Waltz
Ebisu’s tiny standing-only natural-wine bar — Yasuhiro Oyama’s 4-tsubo room is on every visiting Parisian sommelier’s Tokyo list
Winestand Waltz is a 4-tsubo (~13 m²) natural-wine standing bar in Ebisu, Tokyo, run by Yasuhiro Oyama — a former French chef whose deep ties to Loire and Languedoc producers have made the room one of Tokyo’s most respected natural-wine destinations. The bar is reportedly a pilgrimage stop for visiting Parisian wine professionals.
Tokyo
Ahiru Store
Yoyogi-Hachiman’s natural-wine standing-room bar — small, sourcing-driven, cult-favorite among Tokyo natural-wine drinkers
Ahiru Store (アヒルストア) is a tiny natural-wine bar near Yoyogi-Hachiman station in Tokyo, with around eight counter seats and a basic standing-room format. The owner-couple sources every wine directly from winemakers; the homemade bread and Asian-Middle-Eastern small plates support the wine list rather than competing with it.
Tokyo
Marunouchi Japanese Wine Weeks
The annual central-Tokyo Japanese wine festival — most major Yamanashi, Hokkaido, and Nagano producers participate
Marunouchi Japanese Wine Weeks (丸の内 日本ワインWeeks) is an annual mid-year promotional event in central Tokyo, coordinated across restaurants, wine shops, and tasting venues in the Marunouchi district. Most major Japanese wine producers participate; for Tokyo drinkers, it is the year’s most concentrated opportunity to taste the breadth of the country’s wine industry.
Tokyo
Frenchette
A perennial favorite in TriBeCa — where natural champagne meets serious French cooking
Frenchette is a French restaurant in TriBeCa, New York, known for its serious wine program and inventive bistro cooking. It is where we first encountered Legrand-Latour’s champagne on a New York wine list — and a perennial anniversary destination.
New York City
visited November 2025
Chambers Street Wines
New York’s essential wine shop for grower champagne and natural wine
Chambers Street Wines in TriBeCa is one of New York’s most respected independent wine shops, known for its extraordinary selection of grower champagne, natural wine, and wines from small producers. Praised by Jancis Robinson for producing some of the most insightful wine writing available.
New York City
visited March 2026