Olivier Derenne, who's spent 170 days a year in Japan for three decades importing wine under the Nishikidôri name, says Japanese wine isn't a recent trend (Suntory planted the first vines in 1899) or a copy of European styles, it's suited to its own terrain and climate, bears included. Hokkaido plays Burgundy's role, with the ultra-restrictive Takahiko Soga estate as…

At Galerie K, Master Sake Sommelier and Kura Master founder Kei Miyagawa traces Japanese wine back to Shinto. This is why Koshu is meant to be drunk the moment it arrives, not aged. French cuisine's shift over the last 36 years, less salt and sugar, more acidity and umami, has landed it on exactly the terrain Japanese wine was always…

Where can you actually find Japanese wine in France? After reaching out to wine shops, combing through restaurant menus, and checking online retailers, and ruling out plenty of dead ends (sake mistaken for wine, listings that only exist on paper), here is a short but twice-verified list: three restaurants (Enyaa, Le 228L, La Cachette), three physical wine shops (Umami /…