Japanese wine magazine in Paris

New (free) wine magazine in Paris Paris
It is now a fact that the Japanese are among the most demanding wine amateurs in the world, but this was still a surprise for me to discover that several of these Paris-based Japanese wine people had set up a free wine magazine in Paris, I mean a real magazine, not a leaflet with a few adresses but a real glossy magazine that could even compete in regard to the pertinence of its content with many subscription magazines of the continent if it was written in French or English. The magazine, which is published by the Centre du Vin Franco-Japonais (C.V.F.J.) is financed by advertising, both with small ads from wine restaurants in Japan or larger-size ads from Japanese businesses.

The magazine is named 33.Vin, and this spring issue is the 2nd issue, it comes after a trial issue printed this winter (read it here - Pdf file) where you can see a profile of all the knowledgeable writers (a dozen - pic on right) who take part, two of them being acquaintances to B. and me, Akiyo Hori and Bunpei Someya who now works as a sommelier at le Kigawa in Paris and who is knows lots of details about the terroirs and their relation to wine. The trial (winter) issue contained a long interview of Anselme Selosse and his son. The first (spring) issue contains 36 pages, and unlike many commercial wine magazines you don't have to scramble across the pages looking if there's any content hidden behind the ads.
What impressed us both too is that the magazine adresses both the knowlegeable amateur and the novice visitor who is eager to learn, be it through sommelier notes or Q & A about a type of wine (in this issue, it was Champagne).

Article by Akiyo Hori In this article with nice water colors, Akiyo Hori tells a story about wines that can change a life. there's no drink more complex than wine, she writes, because of its diversity it can fit to very different people.
She chose to highlight her story with this bottle of Gilles Jayet which may have played a very important role in her personnal life... Winemakers' profiles The last issue contains three profiles of winemakers from the Côte de Nuits, with a picture each time, the important data and history of the estates. Here we learn about Domaine Lécheneau, Maison Lou Dumont and Domaine Digioia-Royer. To be more Japanese, you even fing a few typos like in Japan (Japlish or Franponais in this matter), with the "vignnoble de la Côte de Nuits" or a recipe (printed both in French and Japanese) for "Sufflé au Formage" (soufflé au fromage)...
The recipe comes from La Cuisine de Bernard. Interview of Anselme Selosse The cover page had this appealing title : everything about Jacques Selosse... Jacques selosse is not just any Champagne grower/producer, it's an iconic figure of the natural-wine culture in Champagne, and his champagne wines certainly stand out.
The trial- or winter issue (link on top of page) contains a very long article about the winery and an interview of Anselme Selosse and his son Guillaume where you learn about many things beginning with his philosophy, which is about nature, love and harmony. You'll learn more if you read Japanese, like about his much-smaller yields compared to mainstream Champagne growers. Lots of pictures too, and the whole article complete with sommelier tasting notes fills 8 pages... And remember, that's a free magazine...
The Jacques Selosse Champagne wines were first imported in Japan in 1993, quite early indeed. The etiquette of dining out In the middle of the magazine, you have 3 pages where the Japanese visitors learn in 10 tips everything they need for the étiquette of going out to restaurants in France.
Everything is listed, from the need to be on time and relaxed for this festive moment, the politeness with leaving the woman (for a couple) walk first into the restaurant, the man holding the door open (not particularly in use in Japan), the woman takes better a small-size bag, you wait for the Maître d'Hotel to sit you down at the right table, the use of the napkin, the way the plates and cutlery are placed, the way to eat certain things like oysters (page 3, not reproduced here) or the soup. Restaurant étiquette Even the tricky issue of tips is adressed (#9, on the 3rd page, not shown here), the reader being advised to leave on the table 10€, 20€ or 50€ in chic, high-end restaurants and more like between 1 and 10 € in bistrot-type restaurants, all of this of course depending of the quality of the service and of the experience...

But the wine do's are of course the one I loved the most, and you can see their scenes below.

Learning the wine do's in a restaurant Now, I'm sure that most of you can understand Japanese after a quick look at this drawing, and my own guess is that the sentence in Kanji characters above means : "the sommelier presents the bottle of wine in a very ceremonial way and you must give your approval regarding the wine which is supposed to be the one you chose (vintage and estate)".
Now on the following pictures it's up to you to translate the captions... Checking the wine
Fine !

a Japanese plus Here is an utmost-Japanese plus that we found on the last page, and knowing Akiyo and her love for cats I'm pretty sure that she's behind this cute mini story blending the fascination for cats and the wineries...
We learn that this cat is named Tomate and lives at Maison Lou Dumont, you learn that she was born in 2007 and that she is always in places where wine is made (doing the mice police I guess), and she even visits the neighboring wineries of Domaine Dupont-Tisserandot and Domaine Camus. What a dream life for a cat...
Aside of her writing on wine, Akiyo Hori has worked on several books related to cats, including manga books (she is pictured in this article -- in the background/right).