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Wine Bars in Tokyo - 6/13/2018 9:31:51 AM

pclin

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Can anyone recommend interesting Wine Bars in Tokyo with good selections ?

And restaurant recommendations are welcome too....

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RE: Wine Bars in Tokyo - 6/13/2018 9:42:13 AM

mc2 wines

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Really liked this place for sushi omakase - Ojima - 6-6-19 Ginza, Chuo 104-0061, Tokyo Prefecture

Would say the wine is less compelling although if I remember correctly we did some standard champagne house (maybe Veuve? Or Moet) which was fine and really the fish was going to steal the show anyway. Esp the uni.

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RE: Wine Bars in Tokyo - 6/13/2018 9:52:13 AM

DoubleD1969

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When in Tokyo, drink what the Japanese drink - sake! It could change your perception of it if you haven't tried the better stuff.

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RE: Wine Bars in Tokyo - 6/13/2018 10:23:25 AM

pclin

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quote:

ORIGINAL: DoubleD1969

When in Tokyo, drink what the Japanese drink - sake! It could change your perception of it if you haven't tried the better stuff.

I drank Sake for a few years and visited Sake Bars in Tokyo a few times but decided to stick back to wines. In fact this trip is to visit vineyards in Nagano, some interesting wine producers are popping up there....actually just an excuse for me to go visit Japan again!

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RE: Wine Bars in Tokyo - 6/13/2018 10:42:35 AM

DoubleD1969

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Ah, I see. Looking forward to your report on the wineries!

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RE: Wine Bars in Tokyo - 6/13/2018 3:10:37 PM

mye

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I replied to the WB post, but would re-iterate that if you can get a reso at Ryugin, it's an eye opening experience..

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RE: Wine Bars in Tokyo - 6/13/2018 6:23:34 PM

ikileo

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natural wines are super big and in-vogue in tokyo.

there will always be the fancy wine bars to get your bordeaux and burgundy fix in Ginza and Ropponggi, but I find the hip wine bars opened by young enthusiasts more exciting and usually there's an open kitchen to match the wines.

so depending on what you want out of the wine bar and what kind of scene you like; most of the ones here are a bit more noisy, generally small and some are even standing bars. but they have a unique list and good food.

I won't list out the long standing ones that are more classic, but instead share the 2 thare are more exciting (to me) ones and the typically have a good portion of natural wines as part of the menu.

- Ahiru Wine Store (have dinner and drinks here)
- Wine Stand Bouteille (have an aperitif before your dinner here or finish off after dinner here)

This blog covers both these places. I visit them everytime I'm in Tokyo: https://thewinecurious.wordpress.com/2015/10/28/wine-tips-for-tokyo/#more-3084

Other suggestions:
https://punchdrink.com/articles/the-best-places-to-drink-wine-in-tokyo/

https://www.saveur.com/tokyo-wine-bars

Food-wise what are you looking for and the kind of budgets. Honestly I don't have enough $ and exposure to recommend the kaiseki/michelin types/white table cloths/"jiro dreams of sushi" type of eateries. I'm more into the everyday food but done to the top of their class (tonkatsu, ramen, soba, pizza, burgers, oyakodon, mid-priced sushi, tempura, yakiniku etc...). Let me know if this something you would be keen in? I can share with you.

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RE: Wine Bars in Tokyo - 6/13/2018 8:37:30 PM

pclin

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Foods wise I am okay with any budget and variety, from street foods to Michelin as long as they are tasty. So please do share....

< Message edited by pclin -- 6/13/2018 8:43:41 PM >

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RE: Wine Bars in Tokyo - 6/15/2018 12:50:54 AM

forceberry

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Just came back from Japan. It's certainly true that natural wines are and have been for quite a while a rather big thing there, but what annoyed me a little bit was how impossible it was to find local wines there. When I go to different wine countries, I prefer to drink only local beverages, but in most bars it was just French natural wines - most of which I could find for better prices here in Europe - even though they have some terrific producers making wonderful wines in Japan. If you wanted to taste those wines, you had to look for boutique wine shops which usually carried some obscure Japanese stuff as well.

Fortunately I also visited Yamanashi wine region, where I got to taste local wines from a wide range of producers and also visited a handful of wineries. Unfortunately we had only one actual winery tour, because Yamanashi is VERY MUCH countryside and no-one speaks one iota of English there. Most of the wineries just offered wine tastings, but even then it was pretty difficult as we didn't share common language so they couldn't really present the wines to us and almost all of the labels were in Japanese as well. Not an easy trip, but definitely fun and interesting. And the landscape in the mountainous Yamanashi was spectacular.

But those visiting Tokyo, I strongly encourage you to look for SSC - the Sake and Schochu Center. There's an impressive selection of all kinds of sake and shochu which you can taste for 100-300 JPY ($1-3) per tasting glass. They might not have the freakiest and most extreme examples of the off-the-beaten-path ultra-traditionalist natural sake, but all kinds of interesting, high-quality sakes with a lot of information on them.

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RE: Wine Bars in Tokyo - 6/15/2018 1:44:04 AM

pclin

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May I know which wineries did you visit ?

I have a recommended list from someone in the wine industry to visit but would like to expand. How many days would you recommend for Yamanashi/Nagano ?

Here are the wineries that I am planning to visit:

Kido Winery
Domaine Sogga
Kusunoki Winery
Mann’s Komodo Winery
Villa d’Est

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RE: Wine Bars in Tokyo - 6/15/2018 4:19:39 AM

forceberry

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quote:

ORIGINAL: pclin

May I know which wineries did you visit ?

I have a recommended list from someone in the wine industry to visit but would like to expand. How many days would you recommend for Yamanashi/Nagano ?

Here are the wineries that I am planning to visit:

Kido Winery
Domaine Sogga
Kusunoki Winery
Mann’s Komodo Winery
Villa d’Est

After having cut my teeth touring all around Europe visiting wineries, I'd say my biggest problem with many Japanese wineries is that in many places the tastings cost by the glass and even then the pour is almost universally minuscule - something around 10 to 15 ml. I really don't need those generous pours some European wineries tend to offer, because I'm often pouring half of the glass into a spittoon, but often just one small gulp of the wine isn't really enough to give good picture of the wine. Even more ridiculous was how some wineries offered their wines from plastic shot glasses instead of proper wine glasses.

I have no idea about Nagano, because I've never been there (and it seems a deal of the wineries in your list are from there), but we were just two days in Yamanashi and I think that was way too little. For the first day we visited 5 wineries (Chateau Lumiere, Katsunuma Jozo, Ikeda, Iwasaki Jozo and Soryu) and for the second day we visited two more (Haramo and Chateau Katsunuma), after which we went to the Budo-no-Oka wine center for a "tasting".

Basically the Budo-no-Oka tasting is the best you can do in Yamanashi: there's an underground cellar where they have some 150 to 180 local wines and you can taste all of them for $20. Believe me, I could've stayed just there for two whole days, tasting through all of them, but I had time just to taste only some 20 wines. After having gone through the tasting, you can buy the wines you enjoyed the most, or just head to the wineries in question - often there were just 1-3 wines available per winery, whereas the selection is much larger at the wineries.

The best wineries we visited were Château Lumiere, Katsunuma Jozo and Haramo. Note that a) these wines aren't available at Budo-no-Oka either; b) tastings at Lumiere and Katsunuma Jozo aren't free. We tried to visit Kurambon Winery as well, but for some reason they didn't let us in - even when I had informed them through email that we were visiting them on that day! We also tried to visit Château Jun (located next to Budo-no-Oka) but they were closed that day. Ikeda was sympathetic little place, but perhaps a bit unimpressive compared to their neighbors - although their best wines were really good. Soryu makes some good wines but their tasting was with palstic shot glasses, so not really a place to visit for a tasting. The same thing goes with Chateau Katsunuma, but they specialize mainly on off-dry bulk wine.

Château Mercian is the biggest producer in Yamanashi, but I've yet to taste anything particularly memorable from them. Grace, another big producer, makes much more impressive wines.

So in a nuthsell: I'd say at least three days in Yamanashi with at least one day dedicated to the tasting at Budo-no-Oka. It is a good place to start so you get the lay of the land quickly. Then at least two days for winery visits. The big problem is that Yamanashi isn't a small place so getting from one place to another might take some planning so that the wineries to be visited are close to each other, unless you want to resort to use the expensive cabs.

Wineries to add to your list:
(These three are almost next to each other):
Château Lumière
Katsunuma Jozo
Ikeda
(These two are pretty close to each other):
Haramo
Château Jun
(These I didn't visit, but they make some great wines, a bit spread out from the above wineries):
Grace
Marufuji

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RE: Wine Bars in Tokyo - 6/15/2018 6:11:32 AM

pclin

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Thanks Forecberry, that’s really useful.

You are correct those wineries I listed are in Nagano and I believe they all produce some Pinot Noirs.

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