On June 19, Shizen, a white wine made in Japan with the native Koshu grape, will make its debut at Vinexpo, Bordeaux. By exhibiting at one of the wine industry's most important events, Ernest Singer, the man behind Shizen and a project to improve winemaking in Japan, is declaring his confidence in Koshu wine to the international community.
Singer began to make wine from the Koshu grape with the aim of revitalizing Japan's struggling agriculture industry. "Farmers in Japan are not going to be able to make a living by growing and exporting raw products like tomatoes," he says as we chat in his office at Millesimes Japan, a wine importer that also produces Shizen, at Chateraise Belle Foret Winery. "Only processed agriculture works and, of course, wine is the ultimate processed agricultural product.
"The reason why French wine is so highly regarded is because of French cuisine. Because Japanese food is now more popular than French food — there are 600 or 700 Japanese restaurants in New York now — I would think that there is a market for the export of a wine that matches Japanese cuisine," he says.