Point of View: The Japan Wine Challenge, A New Zealand Judge's Perspective
Having judged at the Japan Wine Challenge in both 2024 and 2025, I’m looking forward to returning to the role in Tokyo this October.
Mirasaka is a quiet, nondescript country town surrounded by fields and consisting largely of low-rise houses, located a 90-minute car ride from Hiroshima station. One landmark makes the town stand out, even appearing on national television to gasps of surprise and applause. It’s a milk-carton-shaped and colored building resembling the ‘Mainichi Gyunyu’ (‘Daily Milk’) brand container; the red-white-and-blue building stands tall above nearby houses. It’s a milk store and home for a family who also deliver the dairy product in the neighborhood. It’s been 30 years.
