Good wine at a fair price is not a phrase heard often in Napa Valley these days, but the buzz among Tokyo wine lovers is that the recently revived Girard winery is now delivering just that.
The first time we saw the Girard label was on the shelf at the Dean & Deluca store in Shinagawa, which should come as no surprise to those who know the parties behind both recent ventures.
The original Girard family owned a vineyard at the intersection of Oakville Cross and Silverado Trail. Steve Girard Jr. realized that they were located at what was then the virtual ground-zero of Napa Valley Cabernet (Silver Oak and Opus One are a stone's throw away), and built a winery on the property in 1980.