A few years ago, I enjoyed a chilled glass of wine while sitting on a cobbled street in the medieval French city of Chinon in the heart of Loire Valley; the wine was from the surrounding vineyards of Samur and tasted absolutely divine. When I got the chance to sample a similar wine from the same region this week, however, I felt slightly let down — the subtle minerality of the drink seemed to have been lost. This was no doubt due in part to circumstance — sensations are often more vivid when we're on holiday and basking in the afternoon sun — but it got me wondering: Wine travels huge distances to get to Japan; by the time it reaches us, has the journey itself had an effect on its quality?
This question had been in the back of my head for some time when I stumbled upon Tokyo-based K.K. Vinarius, a company that has developed a unique way to ensure that their imported wine is left undamaged by long-distance travel. I met with the company president, Tara Tan Kitaoka, to find out more about their unique system.
It all started when Kitaoka's late husband, Paul, found that his experience of drinking Italian wines in Italy and drinking the same wines in Japan was vastly different. "Paul wondered why the wine tasted so good in Italy and yet tasted so bad here," says Kitaoka. The couple began to suspect that fluctuations in temperature while the wine is being shipped over was part of the problem.