We are writing on the eve of another winter season. This will be our twelfth winter in Nagano and, while we enjoy every season living on the slopes of Mount Kurohime, winter is special here -- marked by low temperatures and deep snow. Waking up to two meters of fresh white snow is not unusual. But we are prepared -- our snow plow is as big as a small car.
September 2023 Reviews
Jim and Mariko (along with Keiko) were in London during July and into August to help out with (and celebrate) the birth of a new addition to our family. Daughter/sister, Komaki and her husband, Andy, birthed a beautiful baby girl named Juneau. The new family lives in the village of Walthamstow, which is part of Greater London, and just 30 minutes on the Victoria Line to Buckingham Palace.
July – August 2023 Wine Reviews
It may be surprising to some, but the main crop in our farming village of Tomigahara is not rice but corn! (Note: Tomigahara is an administrative sub-unit of Shinanomachi town in Nagano Prefecture). Our neighborhood farmers CANNOT grow rice here since the altitude is above 600 meters. Previously, the main crops were white radishes and buckwheat (the main ingredient in Japanese soba), but over the past decade more and corn has been planted and has become a major cash crop for the village since it does not have to be marketed through the local agricultural cooperative.
June 2023 Wine Reviews
The past two months have flown by as the Foster family converged on New York City to celebrate the birth of Mariko's first child, a little girl named Noa. We all had a great time including a picnic in Central Park and attending a piano concert at Carnegie Hall. Jim had ambitious plans to visit … Continue reading June 2023 Wine Reviews
February / March 2023 Wine Review
The two months since our last blog have gone by quickly. The above picture was taken February 6 at a wine tasting hosted by winemaker and good friend, Shigeyuki Kusunoki. The event took place at the Hotel Edmont Metropolitan in Itabashi and was packed with wine retailers and wholesalers as well as restaurant owners. The mood was upbeat and the winemaker did not disappoint.
January 2023 – The “Best of Nagano Wines” in 2022
When not skiing (or playing golf), we have been contributing monthly to the friendsofnaganowine.com blog for four years! Our first piece was uploaded on January 31, 2019. And over this period a lot has changed in Japan and the world. We won't go down the rabbit hole to document and evidence this point. But we will note that our first blog focused on a tasting and interview with the owner of one of Japan's major independent wineries, Shigeyuki Kusunoki of the Kusunoki Winery. And coincidence or not, we will be attending in February a tasting hosted by Mr. Kusunoki of his new wines in Tokyo.
December 2022 Wine Review
The snow has arrived at our home on the slopes of Mount Kurohime in Nagano. And this is just the first taste of what promises to be a long and very snowy winter. But that is why we have lived here for over a decade. And there really is nothing better than to sit beside our wood-burning stone and sample some local Nagano wines for inclusion in our monthly blog. This time, we are winding the clock back to the start of the pandemic in the Spring of 2020 when the rapid spread of the virus in Japan forced us to cancel plans for a series of wine-tastings and a wine dinner that we had planned for Friends of Nagano Wine in the Tokyo area.
November 2022 Wine Recommendations
We began our blog last month with a gloomy rainy scene from the front porch of our home in Kurohime. So, it is only fair to show what a difference a month makes. And Jim would match up a Kurohime fall afternoon in November with the finest days in the woods of New England or the forested hills of the Ardennes in Belgium -- both of which we have enjoyed many times. That said, sunny, brisk November weather in Nagano comes too late for the grapes -- which are harvested in October. The irony is that nothing goes better with a beautiful fall day in Nagano (or anywhere for that matter) than a nice glass of Merlot. So, we will be introducing three of these in this month's blog.
Friends of Nagano Wine 