Exploring Japanese wine (3) Dinner at Wassy’s Dining Souple, Osaka
Website: https://wassys.co.jp/souple/
Wassy’s is a chain of wine shops in Osaka, carrying an amazing selection of international and Japanese wines, with a strong presence for Burgundy and California. There’s also a restaurant, called Souple, where we had a wine matching dinner with a selection of Japanese wines. Souple has been running for 25 years and now all the wineries from around the world who come to sell their wines in Osaka come to visit them and write on the walls: there’s a real roll call of the great and good here.
The food was amazing and the wines worked very well, especially the two Chardonnays. Shikoshu, a hybrid, is underrated: this was a very interesting wine and the brett here worked well, although I wouldn’t age it. The Grace Misawa is an impressive Bordeaux-style blend of real class, and one of Japan’s very top wines.
Menu
Hyogo aged sweet potato beni-haruka soup (this was smooth and creamy with lovely texture)
Sauteed Brittany lobster Homard blue with bisque sauce
Grilled Iwate pork Hakkinnton, Mont Saint-Michel mussels and Hokkaido leek with Osaka Kikuna sauce (a green sauce cooked in mussel stock)
Steamed Nagasaki Flounder with potato purée and browned butter sauce
Roasted Yamagata Waygu beef filet with root celery puree (this beef was stunning: perfectly tender and full of flavour)
Nara egg brulee with French black truffle (this was quite simply one of the best desserts I’ve ever eaten, with the truffle adding amazing savouriness)
THE WINES
Ajimu Sparkling Gokka 2019 Oita
11.5% alcohol. This is a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Lively with nice weight, showing green apple and lemon fruit. Very fine and detailed with a hint of sweetness on the finish. Fresh and supple with lovely balance. 90/100
Hiroshima Miyoshi Winery Tomoé Shingetsu Chardonnay 2021 Hiroshima
Bright, lively and fresh with some nuttiness, a bit of stoniness and a touch of spicy oak. Fresh, with nice pastry notes and a hint of salinity, finishing a bit spicy. 90/100
Kikuka Winery Barrel Aged Chardonnay 2021 Kumamoto
Linear with nice focus to the fresh pear and citrus fruit with a stony, spicy edge. Good concentration. Fine and mineral with some brightness. 91/100
Oku-Izumo Vineyard Symbio Shokoshi 2021 Shimane
This is a hybrid variety. Juicy and a bit wild with raspberry, cherry and some meaty, slightly animal notes. Lively and smoky with vibrant berry fruits and nice structure. Joyful and distinctive, with some brett that works quite well in this context. 91/100
Grace Cuvée Misawa 2019 Yamanashi
13.5% alcohol. A blend of 60% Cabernet Franc with 27% Petit Verdot and 13% Cabernet Sauvignon from a vineyard at 700 m in Akeno village. 17 months in French oak. Highly aromatic and classic with sweet spicy berry and black fruits, with hints of tar, gravel and cedar. The palate is fresh and structured with some savoury notes and spicy oak. Powerful, youthful and dense with massive potential for development. 94/100
