Wine Tasting, Vineyards, in France

François Dumas, Wine Importer in Japan

François Dumas Roppongi, Tokyo
We had the chance recently to meet François Dumas, who is possibly the first to have set up a wine-import business in Japan centered around French natural wines : his company Le Vin Nature is entirely centered on the distribution of (mostly French) natural wines. His story is passionating because more than business, his career is about passion and intuition moves. First, he is a trained architect in France, then he organized music shows in Japan and ended up setting up a wine import business...
François came to Japan first 1979, he was a trained architect and he came for a one-year study on traditional Japanese houses, from the far north to the Japanese south. Back in France in 1981 he worked for the newly independant radio network Radio Nova, this was the time the World-Music was very strong in France and the new freedom in the radio waves was very exciting. Then he went back to Japan and organized music shows there with African musicians as well as people like Gainsbourg, Charles Trenet, Jane Birkin, Marianne Faithful, Maceo Parker and others. Serge Gainsbourg was not known in Japan then and he has become sort of a cult singer since. When the techno-music era began, he decided to stop this job, leave the business to his associates and begin do something with wine, even though he remained the president of this concert business (Highlife international) until 2006. So, in 1997, he decided to explore another field and gather a list of organic and biodynamic wineries and import their wines here. There weren't any specialized import of natural wines here then, the wine lansdcape was almost limited to Bordeaux which he felt was boring. From the start he had the wines of Overnoy, Chateau Le Puy (before it turned organic and discovered how not to use SO2, he adds) and many others.

Tokyo Wine Bar : Shonzui

Shige and Tsubo at Shonzui Roppongi, Tokyo
Here is a very cool wine bar/restaurant in Tokyo : Shonzui. It's located in Roppongi, but it's almost like if it was another Roppongi than the one we usually think to. Far from being in the buzzing neighborhood favored by foreign expats, it's on a side alley in the periphery of Roppongi which has a flavor of authenticity. The street where it sits looks very quiet and to add one more touch of remoteness, the bar is located on the 2nd story of a modern building (the white building on the left), without any hint on the street level other than a discreet sign (see on right). I'm always amazed in Japan at how bars and restaurants sitting away from the street level and from the public eye, sometimes in the upper stories of anonymous and bland buildings, can still find their clients to the point that they are packed. Here there was only a flight of stairs to climb but for the unsuspecting passerby it's just the same, If you hadn't heard about this place before, there's little chance you walk up and push the door...
This outstanding wine bar/restaurant offers a wide range of French natural wines, for which the Japanese consumers have developped a taste along the last years. Let's remind that Japan alone buys a huge share of the natural-wine production, most of which originating from France. For reasons ranging from a better pairing with their food, their love for raw, unprocessed products, taste trends bending more on lightness rather than aromatic bombs, and what could be a physical intolerance for the many additives used in the commercial winemaking (first and foremost SO2), the Japanese have been among the pioneers to plebiscite the nascent natural-wine movement. This resulted into the fact that Japan was almost from the start the first most important buyer of French natural wines. More than anywhere else, I think that the Japanese chose these wines because like their food, these wines were all about freshness and liveness, having had the least possible human intervention and at least no interference with any of the correcting tools and miracle powders used by the mainstream wineries.
Tokyo lovers will be happy to listen to my now-ritual microtrack recording of the audio ambiance along the Yamanote line...

Chichibu whisky distillery (Japan)

Ichiro Akuto, founder of the Chichibu distillery Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture (Japan)
Japan's newest and smallest distillery
It takes about one hour and a half to get to Chichibu from Tokyo by train. The Seibu Limited Express starts from the Ikebukuro station (Seibu line) every hour or so, and my train left at 12:30. After what looks like a long time speeding through endless suburbs or towns, you begin to climb into a mountain range, with its lot of tunnels and striking views on small wooden valleys with rivers running through them, and this itinerary makes you feel light years from Tokyo. I had selected this train through the useful train-schedule site Hyperdia.com which has an efficient English version.
Chichibu is a mid-size town with a population of 70 000 and it is home to a very recent and small whisky distillery with nonetheless deep roots in the trade : the Chichibu distillery was founded in 2007 by Ichiro Akuto, the ancestors of whom were making sake here in the early 1600s'. But even more important here, Ichiro's grandfather Isouji Akuto had opened a distillery in the nearby town of Hanyu around WW2, founding it in 1941 and getting the operation licence in 1946. Around 1980, the family distillery turned to single-malt whisky making but these high-quality whiskies needed long years of élevage and this was a difficult investment to support. Ichiro Akuto who when he was younger had been working for the beverage giant (and whisky maker) Suntory had come back to his family distillery first as sales manager then as president but that's when the company had to close down, in 2000, due to financial difficulties. Then, with the fortunate help of a sake maker named Sasanokawa Shuzou, he could repossess a large part (about 400 casks, from what I read) of the priceless whisky stock of the defunct distillery and begin sell it when ready. All the while he soon also made the steps to start a new distillery, right in the town where his ancestors had made sake, here in Chichibu. The new Chichibu distillery started its production in 2007 and we're still now in the early stage of a very promising distillery, bu if you're given the chance to drink some whiskies from the previous incarnation of Chichibu, namely Hanyu, which are now labelled Ichiro's Malt, you'll have a glimpse on what should taste like long-élevage Chichibu whiskies. these Card-series whiskies with intriguing labels going from Five of Spades to King of Heart are just outstandingly, intensely beautiful.

Tokyo Izakaya : Daitoryo

Welcome to another round of good drinks... Okachimachi (Tokyo)
You find everything you need between Okachimachi and Akihabara...
We'll not be reviewing all of Tokyo's casual bars, but this one was also an interesting example in the field of good affordable spots for a few drinks. Believe it or not, it's again in the Ueno and Okachimachi sector. But anywhere you dig in Tokyo there's an unlimited pool of noteworthy eateries, and it's no surprise that the Michelin guide has awarded so many stars in Tokyo (even if we're obviously not dealing with the same category of restaurant in these stories).
Apart from the noisy shopping alleys of Ameyoko, Okachimachi is also where you find an atypical depato (department store) with lots of good deals : Takeya is spread on several builldings east of the Yamanote line, easily recognizable because the main building is purple from bottom to top. A bit messy at first glance, it has almost everything you can need and countless clerks will help you locate the right building or story for your intended purchase. I went there to buy a couple of Japanese saws which I've been using regularly for years in the countryside. There's something with a japanese saw, you have a hard time using another type of saw after you tried one once : is it because of the unique mixed-teeth design or the patented hardness of the Japanese steel, I don't know, but you can saw wood like you would cut into butter with these tools. With their frail appearance, flexible thin blade and their old-style rattan handle you wouldn't suspect what a terrific job they can do including on relatively thick trees. I usually buy double-edge Ryoba-type (両刃) saws. I tried to buy some on amazon.co.jp as the prices are good too but for some reason they don't ship the saws out of Japan, even though they're very easy to ship as they're light and the blade can be taken apart from the handle.
Takeya had like I expected some good deals and I stocked, buying two saws at 1350 Yen apiece. I later bought another model in Tokyu Hands, Tokyu Hands being another specialty depato located in Shibuya.

Tokyo standing bar : Takioka

Salarymen lined along the bar Okachimachi district (Tokyo)
Now, THAT is a nice line of salarymen enjoying their moment of rest : except for us three, they were everywhere around in this place, making the best of their drink and desserved respite before the (presumably long) commute to their home. Again, here is a tachinomya which is not for asthmatic patrons, several men smoking without it raising the eyebrows around, I love Japan for that... Here in this place the service was differently organized, there were waiters coming and going, taking your order and bringing it back to you, there was even a young woman among them, B. was well inspired to join, this tachinomi wasn't that segregated after all (the previous one had two women serving behind the counter, though).

Tokyo standing bar : Aji No Fue

Good time after work Okachimachi, Tokyo (Japan)
If there is one type of utmost-Japanese drinking place, it must be the tachinomi. Often mistaken for an izakaya, a tachinomi is a standing-only bar, a place where (like other types of bars here) Japanese workers and salarymen go with colleagues or alone to indulge in a few drinks and light dishes at the end of the afternoon. That's their way to let the steam off after a long day of routine work, and this is also the grey time zone between work and home, the one probably many spouses hate because that's when their husbands get glued to these smoke-filled venues which prevent them from arriving early at home (so to say with the long commuting distances in metro and train).
Tachonomi are the true heirs of the shitamachi life, the old-neighborhood and ancient-Japan way of life. Tachinomi is a Japanese word (立ち飲み) made of two words, drinking and standing, it sums up pretty well what it is a bout : a standing bar. After WWII, with the attraction for western ways, the Japanese have turned toward what they somehow thought as more civilized venues including seating and private tables, places that were also more women friendly. Up to this day you virtually see no women in a tachinomi, it's a man's thing where you drink and chat with male colleagues.

La Table de Chaintré (Maconnais)

Sébastien Grospellier, with Nobu Food and wine at their best
Chaintré, Maconnais (on the border of Beaujolais)
This is about an outstanding restaurant sitting at the northern tip of the Beaujolais, in the village of Chaintré. There aren't many businesses in Chaintré, but gourmets and vignerons drive there because the food and the wine list are just excellent and every detail is perfect. The venue was long time ago a grocery store and it was turned into a restaurant by the previous manager of the place, Gérard Alonso. Sébastien Grospellier has worked previously in several high-end restaurants, with chefs like Joël Rebuchon, Jean-Paul Jeunet and Bernard Loiseau (he was working in the kitchen when he learnt about his tragic death). He quit his job as chef at Lisbon's Four Seasons in Portugal when he was told by Alonso that the restaurant in Chaintré was available. He moved in in 2007 with the goal to serve fresh products in a single menu that he would source himself, including the bread, which he makes at the restaurant. La Table de Chaintré is closed on monday and tuesday so that Sébastien can go to the market in Lyons and buy there the best products for the week. He works in the kitchen with an assistant (here Nobu from Japan) and his wife Floriane takes care of the service. In much less time than usually needed, he got a star on the Michelin guide.
I think that the first one who tipped me about this restaurant was Philippe Jambon whose wife was working there at the time and who knew Grospellier with whom he shared the love for artisanal wines. I met him shortly while visiting Thierry Allemand a couple years ago as he and his wife were visiting vignerons with the Jambons.

Reviving the vineyard of Jules Chauvet (Beaujolais)

Christophe Pacalet Cercié, Beaujolais
Cercié is only 5 kilometers away from Villié-Morgon, the village houses seem to be lower compared to Villié-Morgon, a long street around which the village built up. You already feel the proximity of the plain and of Belleville, a big village/small town along the Saone river.
Christophe Pacalet's facility is on thee outskirts of the village, and his wines are making quietly their way through the winter, but we could have a glimpse on their becoming. Christophe Pacalet doesn't own the vineyards he's making his wines from, he buys grapes from different growers who follow his organic guidelines and limited-yields requirements. This fits into the winery format which we usually call négoce although here it's mostly around a non-interventionist winemaking philosophy and overall small volumes.
__Christophe Pacalet Chiroubles 2011. Not bottled yet, a bit cold because it's quite cold around here. No SO2 during the vinification here. There will be a bit at bottling. He says that until now he thinks that 2011 is a good vintage in many regards although he thought differently last july (it was raining the whole of july). But august reversed this completely and was sunny and healthy; they harvested starting august 27. What was great was that the damaged grapes dried under the north wind and the sun (ça a "figué", he says in French, meaning that it dried fig style). He had to tell the pickers not to throw away these withered grapes here and there even if they didn't look so nice.

Arbois Wine Bar : Bistrot des Claquets

Philippe Bornard at the counter Arbois (Jura)
Arbois is as you know a lovely town, with something special beyond its lovely setting in a wooded valley. I believe in special places where there's a telluric energy or something which makes these place special and enjoyable, and I have the feeling that Arbois is one of these places. We dropped there for a short visit the other day (before the snow blanketed the whole of Europe) and here again, we discovered a gem of a wine bar far away from the capital, deep in the wooded hills of Jura. We were looking for a place to dine and first went to la Finette, which is a rather-commercial brasserie open 7 days a week where you can have all the Jura dishes you want in a neo-rustic dining room. Efficient but nothing exciting and the food or the wines don't rock there. So we decided to just eat a small dish and tried the other venue which seemed open that evening : the Bistrot des Claquets. Good pick, if not on the first shot.
The bar is a no-fuss venue where you can hang for a glass and chat with whoever happens to be there. This is usually the case in a bar anywhere but here I really felt it was routine and you hadn't to force yourself into socializing. We ended up chatting with this guy sitting at the bar who was obviously (from what we could catch of the conversation) into natural winemaking. He was Philippe Bornard, a vigneron whom we had heard about shortly before in the Beaujolais.

Encounters in Villié-Morgon (Beaujolais)

At Jean Foillard's Villié-Morgon (Beaujolais)
About Foillard, the bar with the best wine-by-the-glass list, and the barman who helped start all this thing 27 years ago...

Very fruitful visit recently in Beaujolais, beginning of course with the one at Jean Foillard who poured for us several of his current cuvées. But the village of Villié Morgon in Beaujolais which is the hometown of both Jean Foillard and Marcel Lapierre had more in store for us that day.
First, a few words about the wines we had here : This Morgon Côte de Py 2010 was a good introduction, a light color, a wine with a long length and very nice overall. 13 ° in alcohol against 14 ° for 2011.
The following was his Fleurie 2009, a wine sporting more tannins with a deeper color, then the Corselettes 2010, so enjoyable to swallow. But the king of the day was his Morgon cuvée π (3,14) 2009, a selection of the oldest vines of his Côte de Py, which he makes only on years where there's a difference in the wine. Bottled since august 2010. Intense mouthfeel, superb wine, which seems to resonate on the palate. Also a very long length.