The Japanese have been making wine for centuries.

Somewhere between Hokkaido, Yamagata, Nagano and Yamanashi, a group of producers has chosen not to use any pesticides, despite the heat and humidity, which make the grapes prone to disease.

One of them told me, “You know, when we went to France, we tasted the wines of la Romanée-Conti. They make the best wine in the world and they’re using biodynamic methods. So we decided to do the same here.”