Jun. 4
Tonight, I had dinner with Mr. Etienne Montille, the owner of Burgundy’s famous winery “Domaine de Montille”.
Last week, I suddenly received a call on my cell phone from Etienne saying, “Hey, I’d like to see you, how are you?”
He started growing grapes in Hakodate, Hokkaido in 2018, and in 2023 he launched the winery “Montille & Hokkaido”.
I have known Etienne for a long time, and we often drank wine together.
（Everybody is young)
In 2015, I took him on a tour of wineries in Hokkaido, which was the beginning of his winemaking in Hokkaido.
（Everybody is young)
It’s been 10 years since then, and it’s been a really long time since I’ve seen him.
Today is the last day of his three-week stay in Montille & Hokkaido.
In the evening, he arrived at Haneda Airport from Hakodate and returned to France on an early tomorrow morning flight.
I wanted to make the most of my short stay in Tokyo, so I made a reservation at a restaurant called “Washoku Biyori Osaketo” in front of Hamamatsucho Station on the Haneda Monorail through a Google search.
He had been in Japan for three weeks, so I thought he was tired of Japanese food, so I made a reservation at some wine bar, but Etienne said, “It’s my last day in Japan, so I want to eat Japanese food,” so I changed the reservation.
Etienne and I are three years apart.
We’ve both gotten older, but we haven’t changed at all since we met.
What has changed is that my son Dai is with us today.
Today, I had Etienne drink Chase the Grape made by my son.
Etienne complimented him on the wine, saying it was a well-made wine, and my son was thrilled.
In addition, Etienne gave him a lot of advice on winemaking.
It’s not often that a young winemaker can meet and talk directly with the owner of a top-notch winery in Burgundy.
By the way, this shop has an amazing selection of Japan sake.
To my surprise, Japan sake from Obuse Winery made by Akihiko Soga was on the list.
Etienne is friends with Akihiko’s younger brother, Takahiko Soga, so I thought I’d give him a drink.
Etienne n liked Soga-san’s sake so much that he replaced three cups.
Good foods, wine and sake.
Old stories bloomed, wine discussions and information about the latest wine market.
It was a really fun and meaningful time.
Etienne, thank you for your time today. See you again.
