The last five years have seen an explosion in the number of certified sommeliers in Japan. Certain high-profile Japanese sommeliers have even achieved an almost rock star-like status, an unexpected development in a country where the title of sommelier did not even exist 30 years ago. Despite its lack of an indigenous wine culture, Japan now has more sommeliers than any other country in the world except Italy, says Akio Hayashi, inspector of the Japan Sommelier Association.

The rise of the sommelier is inextricably linked with the recent rise in wine consumption in Japan. Although Japan has long had a sophisticated food culture, not to mention an unbridled enthusiasm for alcohol, until the mid-1990s, wine consumption had languished at a relatively flat annual average of one liter per person.

Then, in 1995, the wine market experienced a simultaneous combination of events that produced a wine boom of "perfect storm" proportions.