Soul of Japan held the second special seminar of 2019 at the event space of Mie Terrace on Monday, October 7th. The title was “Learning New Perspective of Japanese Wine and Koshu Wine”.

We invited Mr. Ken Hasebe as a lecturer, who is a board member of JAPAN Sommelier Association, the owner of the Hasebe Liquor Store in Yamanashi, and the winner of the 9th National Wine Adviser Competition by JAPAN Sommelier Association  in 2016. He explained about the current market of Japanese wine as well as the perspective for the future of Japanese wine.

Mr. Hasebe gave a lecture about the history of wine making in Japan, the change in the annual wine consumption in Japanese market over time, the current situation of wine industry in Yamanashi, and reason why Yamanashi wineries attract more people recently. Along with the introduction of  the characteristics of wines made from Koshu varietal or Mascat Bailey A varietal which had been uniquely developed in Japan, we served four selected different wines and four Japanese dishes paired with each wines.  The executive chef, Chef Ueno, from “Kioicho Ransen”, one of our members, exclusively developed the menu for our seminar.  Many participants were surprised that how each pairing went well together.

We sincerely appreciate to Mr. Hasebe, Kioicho Ransen, Mie Terrace, Mizunosangyo Co. Ltd., and Suntory  Holdings Limited, for their support.

We wish to continue planning seminars with the theme  “How to Advocate the Splendor of Japanese Food Culture to Foreign Visitors”  in the future.

We are looking forward to having you our next seminar in 2020.