Nagano Wine

• March 2009

  A few years back I made a stop in the Katsunuma wine country on my way home ... a half-marathon up in the Nagano mountains. Was somewhat surprised to see how proud one winery's proprietor was to show his use of firetruck hoses to pump very warm water into open-topped painted metal... Read moreA few years back I made a stop in the Katsunuma wine country on my way home ... a half-marathon up in the Nagano mountains. Was somewhat surprised to see how proud one winery's proprietor was to show his use of firetruck hoses to pump very warm water into open-topped painted metal fermenting barrels that looked like oil drums on steroids. He'd imported 'concentrate' from both Algeria and Romania and was dumping it, yeast and the warm water into the drums and using a large egg-beater-like contraption to keep a vortex going. Then he covered the drumcan with a huge plastic tarp and fastened it with a monster rubber band and let it sit for awhile. A tasting of his end product held no surprises after I'd seen his production line. Granted that was several years ago, and some people in that and other 'wine' producing areas have since studied viniculture in California and France and are currently trying their best. They still are decades away, it seems, and in my more cynical moments I imagine that Napa in the 19th century still had the jump on them. I agree with you wholeheartedly, wineluv, about wine and sushi. There is no good match to my palate. Part of the problem is that 'sushi-meshi' (the rice portion that gives the dish its name) is prepared with vinegar. Another is that soy sauce is a bad match for any wine I've tried with it. Fortunately there are so many good sakes around, with liquor stores vying with each other these days to present ever-better lists of obscure local offerings. They go superlatively well with sushi. I even have trouble with wine and Chinese, due largely to the aforementioned soy sauce issue. But they have Shaosing 'wine'... ;-    (hide)

  Forum post in the topic New from the Vancouver, BC area by dmcker

  
  

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