Unable to find much information on Japanese wine tourism in English, Nick Rowan decided to put together a guide to the country's wine regions. | AMANDA PUN

Nick Rowan, author of “Japanese Wine: History, Regions, Wineries (and Cheese),” did not have a strong impression of Japanese wine when he first tasted it in 1998 while working as an assistant language teacher under the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme in Akita Prefecture. 

He can’t recall the variety but thinks it could have been a Vitis labrusca grape, as it had a musky aftertaste that he wasn’t accustomed to.

At the time, he didn’t realize it would shape a long-term fascination with Japanese wine. 

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