Once upon a time, wine in Japan was a hushed affair, conducted with starched linens and stiff-backed chairs. Elusive first-growth Bordeaux and top Burgundy accompanied the tense, dutiful rituals of business negotiations. The mood was earnest; the cost high. It sometimes seemed as if the highly codified atmosphere of the tea ceremony was transposed onto the realm of wine.
Over the past decade, however, wine has become a lustier, more accessible pursuit here. Unabashed camaraderie unfolds over glasses of wine and reasonably priced meals. If Japan's economic downturn has brought anything to celebrate, surely it is the liberation of wine from stuffy, self-conscious confines.
That transition is evident at Grape Gumbo, a convivial wine bar located on a tiny, lantern-lit side street in Ginza. There is no need to be a serious wine collector to relish this place. Nonetheless, die-hard aficionados will feel slightly delirious when they peruse the 16-page wine cellar menu here. Also investigate the separate, consumer-friendly wine-by-the-glass menu. This list is so thorough that it features, for example, 13 dessert wines for a slowly sipped nightcap (including the spicy 1997 Chapoutier Banyuls, 700 yen/ glass; 1983 Ramos-Pinto port, 1,500 yen/glass; and 1998 Gerhard Schueller Tokay Pinot Gris Tardive from Alsace, 900 yen/glass).