Welcome to American Wine Journey!

Hello. I'm Kaz Chiba, Head Sommelier of French Restaurant Hortensia in Tokyo.

Yes, we are a French restaurant but as you can imagine from the title "American Wine Journey", I love American wines and selected mostly American wines for the wine list.

American wine in general conjures up images of only limited styles of wine even for people in the know here in Japan. Having returned from the Napa Valley in California where I was trained as a sommelier at the restaurant Auberge du Soleil, I realized that quite a few wine lovers in Japan still believe that American wine has only two types; "big, rich Cabernet" and "oaky, buttery Chardonnay." Considering the famous faces of California wines, I cannot help admitting that those are the most popular ones. However, as a matter of fact, there are a lot more that American wine has to offer in addition to those stereotypes.

With the three year experiences of being fully exposed to American wine in the capital city of the American wine world, I am confident to say that the most fascinating thing about American wine is its diversity. In other words, there are many "styles" of wines that surely exist in US.

For example, in the Napa Valley alone, you can find various mesoclimates; some vineyards in Oak Knoll, a cool appellation that are conducive to making an elegant, restrained Cabernet with fresh acidity. On the contrary some vineyards in Howell Mountain, a mountain area that is exposed to harsh afternoon sunshine and is well-drained with a poor soil, which produce massive, dense Cabernet with a tannic structure that is completely different from ones made in the mid valley floor such as Oakville where rich yet balanced Cabernets are more likely to be found.

In addition, there are many wineries that have different winegrowing philosophies that create distinctive wines accordingly. That includes some American wines that taste more like French wine such as Cabernet made in the old school style that is elegant and layered with earthy, cigar box-like aromas & flavors which are reminiscent of Bordeaux or early harvested Chardonnay that is fresh and restrained with balanced acidity and graceful minerality which remind you of Burgundy. And the giveaway is low alcohol!

Those are the wines that we call "Bridge Wine" which tastes somewhere between the new world (ex. US) and the old world (ex. France). And for the wine list of the restaurant, I intentionally selected as many bridge wines as the space allows so as to show its great diversity that the American terroirs take pride in.

In this blog, I am going to share what I learned during my time in Napa Valley (and am learning here) about American wines and its terroirs, including of course American Bridge Wine. (with regard to the details of Bridge Wine, please refer to our restaurant's home page.)

http://www.lahortensia.com/en/menu/

By the way, why bridge? Well, because those wines are the ones that provide you with passage between the old world and the new world, hopefully leading you to new discoveries. Have fun! Cheers!