After my spotlight on sake books, the Japanese theme continues this month with a new guide to the country’s wines.
I stumbled across this self-published work on Instagram (a reward for my hours of mindless scrolling). Nick Rowan – aka @winefogg on the platform – isn’t an industry veteran, but has clearly fallen hard for the world of wine in recent years, undertaking WSET courses and setting up a blog.
And now, he’s published a book: Japanese Wine: History, Regions, Wineries (and Cheese) (£49 Wine Fogg, December 2025).
A true labour of love
Nick Rowan tasting at Tomi Wine Chapel, Nagano, Japan.
(Image credit: Nick Rowan)
Rowan, who previously lived in Japan, has put an extraordinary amount of thought and work into the book. A true labour of love, it’s a comprehensive guide to the wines of Japan (as well as a nod to the country’s nascent cheese industry), written with the tourist in mind.
It offers a broad-brush introduction to the country’s wines – the history, main grapes and styles, viticulture and winemaking – before diving into profiles of each prefecture and the producers; but you’ll also find shortlists of wine shops, bars and restaurants in every area covered, as well as useful travel tips. (A note for those who are as confused as I was at first: MBA doesn’t stand for Master of Business Administration, but Muscat Bailey A, otherwise Bailey A, an outstanding sibling for Melon B in the Spice Grapes band I’m compiling.)
The appendices include an array of additional information – from the estates with the best winery cats/dogs/goats/ chickens and statistics on wine production to a (very) brief guide to parsing Japanese.
'Ideal if you're planning a vinous tour of Japan'
Dear reader, you may be aware that I don’t always gush with praise when it comes to self-publishing – and it certainly comes with limitations.
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Inevitably, there are a few more typos or formatting quirks than in traditionally published books; the design may leave a lot to be desired; and the imagery can be awful. Editors are generally very helpful in shaping a book – and can be sorely missed.
Rowan, however, has managed to dodge the worst of these potential pitfalls. His book is stripped back – text heavy, but for good reason. This isn’t a coffee table book, nor one you’re likely to read cover to cover, but rather a solid reference guide – and ideal if you’re planning a vinous tour of Japan.
An editor would likely have cut the best winery animals from the appendix; I’m glad there wasn’t one to do so. If you buy the book directly through Rowan’s site (rather than Amazon), you can add a custom wine stain, made with a specific Japanese wine of your choice – a curious yet creative way to tip an amateur author if ever I saw one.
Also on my reading list: Grape Juice
(Image credit: Grape Juice / 831 Stories)
Not many wine journalists stray into fiction – and those who do tend to have rather mixed results – but Eliza Dumais, whose writing has featured in Decanter, recently published her debut novella Grape Juice (£8.99 831 Stories, December 2025).
Set among the vines at harvest-time in Alsace, New Yorker Alice finds much more than nascent ferments on her vintage adventure – with the handsome Henri. An escapist read for romantics, effortlessly sprinkled with wine references, it’s well worth packing for your next beach holiday.
Sophie Thorpe is a London-based wine writer, largely writing in-house for merchant Fine & Rare. The winner of the 2021 Guild of Food Writers Drinks Writing Award and an MW student, her writing can be found at firstpress.uk.
