Tokyo wine apartments take shape

Work has begun on a number of upscale apartments in Tokyo aimed at wine lovers that are due to be completed by September 2013.

Sommelier: Ishida Hiroshi

The apartments – provisionally called the Shibuya Shinsen Wine Apartment Project – are the brainchild of Takayuki Suzuki, a Japanese property developer who also works as a director of the Japan branch of négociant Bordeaux Wine Bank.

The complex, in the Shibuya area of downtown Tokyo, will have a wine bar and bistro on the ground floor, and a 10,000-bottle underground wine cellar for the use of all owners.

An on-site sommelier will be on hand to serve wine in the individual apartments, and to arrange wine dinners and other events. Wine glasses, decanters and other wine-related items will be available for residents to hire as needed.

Suzuki told Decanter.com space is at a premium in Tokyo, ‘so it is difficult to find room for wine storage in small apartments. We are designing rooms that have wine lovers in mind, and extra space for their wine collection will be provided in the underground cellar.’

Architect Keiji Ashizawa is working on the project, with sommelier Ishida Hiroshi acting as a consultant.

Written by Jane Anson in Bordeaux