by Ned Goodwin

Wine Tokyo, the largest wine fair in the Japanese calendar, was held on 8 April, where  distributors purveying extreme styles of minimally sulphured wines, under the vague and frequently misused term “BIO,” drew the most attention from punters, buyers and sommeliers alike. Is this the future of the Japanese market, or merely a passing fad?
According to Japan`s most influential wine trade journal, WANDS, sales of ‘natural’ wine have increased dramatically in the last three-years, possibly as much as 25-30%. However, due to the implicit vagaries of the term, it is difficult to come up with exact statistics. After all, is the term an abbreviation for ‘biologique,’ or organic wine? If so, as biodynamically produced wines are inherently organic, the term should encompass this sector of the market also. Moreover, the extreme school, or ‘naturel’ producers eschewing responsible levels of sulphur dioxide, usually farm organically and thus, are part of the sector grouped under the BIO banner.

In a recent article in WANDS, Kenichi Hori of the Californian Wine Institute, states that the term BIO is used as a marketing tool. Importers of the extreme school of wine claim that their products, despite obvious faults, are healthy and prevent hangovers. As a result, many producers such as Thierry Puzelat in the Loire, are encouraged to make wine with minimal or no SO2, to be labeled as ‘BIO’ for the Japanese market.

Clearly, the misuse of BIO in Japan is reason for confusion among consumers and distributors alike. While the Japanese are to be praised for an openness to new styles, a market with a paltry two-litres/head of consumption can ill-afford to mislead the consumer into believing that in many cases, faulty wines are reflective of fashions in Parisian wine-bars, nature and terroir, as is oft-heard at tastings and in the press.

It has been said Japan`s devotion to BIO wine is a means to compensate for the lack of nature in a small and highly industrialised land. The many references to “…from the garden…” and the like in the Michelin guide support this theory. Vinotheque magazine`s recent cover, BIO, saw it sell more copies than any issue in the publication’s history albeit, even that, as one article said, around 95% of extreme styles imported to Japan are riddled with volatility or brettanomyces. More radically, however, it has been suggested by critic Katsuyuki Tanaka of magazine WINART, that an attraction to the aromas of (re)fermentation derives from a nostalgic link to gastronomic staples such as pickled vegetables in Japanese cuisine. Tanaka went as far to write that such aromas are linked to Japanese DNA.

Ties to culture and beyond may sound attractive, but unless definitions and parameters are established for different BIO styles, the use of the term risks marring the reputation of responsibly made organic and biodynamic wines, while alienating consumers who are wondering what they are missing.

Importers such as Bill Campbell of Hotei wines dismiss the BIO craze as “…a flash in the pan trend with a giant negative feedback loop.” Carl Robinson of Jeroboam says that while much of the wine he imports are by definition ‘BIO’ in the organic sense, his firm does not use the angle as a sales pitch. Customers want to drink wine that first and foremost tastes good, he remarks. Yet this is the quandary. Many customers are led to believe that certain styles of wine taste good because they are ‘BIO.’

Tokyu department store has an entire display devoted to “natural” wine. Firstly, there is not a New World wine to be seen, cementing stereotypes that so-called natural winemaking is the domain of the Old World. Secondly, there is little guidance for the consumer to discern differences in wine styles be they regional or viticultural. One is met with stammers by the sales-team if the term ‘natural’ is queried. It seems that the category is currently able to sell itself. Optimistically, one salesperson said that many customers find the taste of some of the wines “insufficient”.

While it is uplifting to see many small, artisan producers represented in mainstream outlets in Japan, customers have the right to know what they are drinking. The Japanese market is all the richer for having access to a range of styles, yet the health of the market demands integrity among buyers and tastemakers. In a society fuelled by fads, let`s hope the BIO phenomenon is merely a passing one.