When most people think of Japanese drinks, they reach for sake or a cold Sapporo. Wine rarely comes to mind, and yet some Japanese wineries have been at it for over a hundred years. An industry tasting held at Pall Mall brought together nine producers, all working with Japan’s most important grape variety: Koshu.

Koshu has been grown in Japan for around 1,300 years, making it one of the oldest cultivated varieties in the world. The grape itself is light purple, but it’s almost always used to make white wine, delicate, subtle, and quite unlike anything from France or Italy.

The tasting covered a range of styles, from still whites to sparkling and orange wines, and included both large corporations and small family wineries.

Suntory will be familiar to British drinkers mainly through its whiskies, and if you’ve seen Lost in Translation, you’ll know the name. Less well known is that the company has been making wine for nearly a century. Their Tomi Koshu 2022 picked up recognition at the Decanter World Wine Awards in 2024, which is about as mainstream a stamp of approval as you can get in this country.

Manns, owned by soy sauce giant Kikkoman, sits in the mid-price bracket and specialises in sparkling wines. These are the bottles you’d find in Japanese supermarkets, and the fizz is worth seeking out if you’re curious about the style.

Lumiere has been around since 1885 and makes some of the more adventurous wines in Japan. Their Sparkling Orange 2022 is an orange sparkling wine from granite-volcanic soils, exactly the kind of thing that would turn heads at a natural wine bar in Shoreditch.

Fujiclair’s sparkling Koshu 2023 is probably the most approachable entry point for anyone new to Japanese wine. Fresh, mineral, with fine bubbles, think somewhere between a Crémant and a light Champagne but with its own distinct character.

Aruga Branca from Katsunuma Jozo is for those who like their whites aromatic and lively. Aruga Branca Issehara has citrus and peach notes with a clean acidity and a touch of sweetness — easy to drink, harder to forget.

We recommend trying Japanese wines — they are truly a new wine experience from a country that still has much to surprise the world with.