Drinking Wine in Japan
TweetI went out drinking with some ex-colleagues last night in an Izakaya (kind of like a Japanese Tapas bar I guess, many small dishes, lots of drinks), and it prompted me to write this blog entry.
Japan is not traditionally a wine drinking country (asides from Japanese rice wine, sake, of course), but over the last 10-20 years the popularity of wine has increased greatly.
Before I met my friends I went into Kinokuniya (a big book store chain here, like Borders or Waterstones, that also has a huge magazine section), to check out their wine magazines. Shelves upon shelves of them! “How to learn Wine in 30 days!”, “Wine Art”, “Guide to Italian Wine”, etc, etc. So theirs a big demand and popularity for things wine here.
However, in reality, getting a glass of wine in a bar, restaurant or izakaya is a different story.
I generally don’t order wine in izakaya, exactly for the reason I’m getting to, but this time, they’d named the wine “Gallo Cabernet Sauvignon” (as opposed to Glass of Red Wine), so I thought I’d take a chance.
It turned up in a small glass, wine and glass having come straight from the fridge, ice cold with condensation dripping down the side.
I had to spend 5 minutes with my hands wrapped round the glass trying to warm it up a little.
This happens even in some specialized wine bars. Not because the barman doesn’t know his wine, but because Japanese people generally like their red wine ice cold (sometimes with ice in), so the customer gets what they want.
Having said that, in the humidity of Japanese summers, an ice cold red wine is actually not a bad idea.
A few days ago I opened a bottle of Domaine Montrose red table wine and drank it at room temperature. Unfortunately the room temperature as 25deg C (77 Fahrenheit), so just a bit too warm. I actually ended up chilling it in the fridge for a few minutes.
For those that don’t know, red wine’s “ideal temperature” for drinking is between 60-68degrees fahrenheit.
That kind of problem we don’t usually have in Europe, although I imagine in places like California it can be an issue too I guess.
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Great post, I read recently that in Japan Sake consumption is going down, while western wine (reds/whites) are now in fashion.
Comment by margaret river wines — June 20, 2009 @ 1:50 am
True, Sake consumption has been on the decrease here in Japan, and western wine has increased, but I think most people (especially the younger geneation) have moved to Shouchu as Sake (and whiskey, the other drink Japanese people are famous for drinking) are seen as a bit old fashioned now.
Comment by admin — June 20, 2009 @ 8:07 pm