A successful discovery
One remarkable pairing is the intensely salty, creamy sea urchin – called ‘uni’ – with a Koshu orange wine. Another extraordinarily successful discovery for me was roast Wagyu beef and ginger paired with the aforementioned Aruga Branca Pipa from Katsunuma – proving the versatility of this grape, grown in Japan for around nine centuries before its winemaking capabilities were realised.
So, Koshu’s subtle appeal, complexity, and ability to pair so successfully with one of the world’s most popular and revered cuisines – Japan’s raw-fish-based food – are all reasons to want to try this grape. But there’s a further reason why it should be on the shelves and lists of specialist wine retailers and great restaurants respectively. And that’s because it is right on trend with demand in mature wine-drinking markets, where the call is for something light in body, low in alcohol, refreshing, and authentic. Japanese Koshu ticks all these boxes.
Add to these traits the elegantly understated packaging of the wines, the charming and reserved nature of the winemakers, and the fact that the combination of Koshu and Japan is not only easy to remember, but also singular, means you have something relatively new to the international wine scene that is ripe for enthusiastic take-up.
Indeed, any great wine-focused restaurateur or retailer without at least one reference for Japanese Koshu is no longer fully representing the wine styles of the world. And any serious Japanese restaurant without a broad palette of Koshu wines, is failing to offer its customers one of the best accompaniments to its specialist fare. Not only that, but a wine that shares the same source nation with its culture of precision and subtlety that goes into the production of the best raw-fish food in the world.
So, the next time you’re offered a glass of Gewürztraminer with your sashimi, politely tell the sommelier that you would rather have a carafe of Koshu. And, if they can’t supply it, please spread the word that this is the go-to grape for Japanese food – as well as one of the most exciting newcomers to the wine world in this century, even if its origins can be traced back to the beginning of the last.
