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November 22, 2024
 

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Melanie Campbell-Drane
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jan 27, 2002
A note-perfect finish that's worth the wait
At one time, port and dessert wines were the essential end to a truly fine meal. The indulgence was justified by the thought that savoring a digestif restored peace to the stomach after a sumptuous dinner. It was a pleasure with medicinal value. Lean back in your chair, stretch out your legs and swirl...
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jan 13, 2002
A great group effort
After the yearend holiday whirlwind, a mood of austerity settles over the month of January. It's a shame, since deep winter evenings are arguably the best time of year to pop the cork on rich, dark and warming red wines. Yet there is a way to savor special wines even in tight-budget times. Start a wine-tasting...
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Dec 30, 2001
Reasons to celebrate good-tasting bargains
Recent Vineland columns have focused on distinctive, luxury wines for holiday gift-giving and festive dinners. For our last column in 2001, we pursued an elusive category -- delicious bargain party bottles. It's a tantalizing quest. Few achievements are more gratifying to a wine lover than discovering...
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Dec 16, 2001
If you're going to pop the cork, do it in style
Recently, we asked professionals from the Tokyo restaurant-and-wine scene to share their tips for worthy holiday wine splurges and to tell us their favorite dishes to match. Their ideas may inspire the right present for a wine aficionado. You might also consider sampling these top picks in a New Year's...
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Dec 2, 2001
The life of the party
The yearend holiday season brings a flurry of parties, rich dinners and the popping of corks. For those of us who love wine, this time of year presents a few dilemmas as well. There's the torture of finding the right bottle to give the boss or a gourmand in-law who has tried everything. Then we mull...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Nov 18, 2001
You might think it's crazy, but this upstart is serious
With all the cultural treasures that Kyoto offers, perhaps few people would have wine in mind when planning their itinerary. After all, in a city with such richness of tradition, wine is a mere arriviste.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Nov 4, 2001
The quiet return of Riesling
Wine and hemlines are both susceptible to the whims of fashion. In recent years, the Riesling grape suffered from a dowdy reputation. During the big red wine boom of the '90s, it was shunned as a pale wallflower.
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Oct 21, 2001
A gem of a wine shop in the rough of Nerima
A good, little neighborhood wineshop is a rare treasure in Tokyo. Imagine a friendly place around the corner, where the owner is a passionate wine aficionado. A few times a week, you stop by after work and ask him or her for some tips on an affordable, delicious bottle to go with your home-cooked dinner....
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Oct 7, 2001
From plonk to classics, Shinanoya has got it all
For wine fans, the Daita neighborhood in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward is a worthy destination. This part of town is home to one of Tokyo's most impressive wine stores. Shinanoya Shokuhin Co. has existed for 50 years. By 1998, the wine and spirits department at Shinanoya Supermarket was outgrowing its shelf...
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Sep 23, 2001
Wine loving in the city, from dusk till dawn
This week brings good news for wine lovers whose schedules tend toward the late end of the Tokyo grind. Nissin World Delicatessen has extended its hours to 8:30 p.m., and a new Shirogane wine bar is pouring until the wee hours.
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Sep 9, 2001
Home is where the harvest is
If you yearn to glimpse a vineyard in autumn, consider visiting one in Japan. In several prefectures, quality-minded vintners are exploring the grape varietals, cultivation techniques and microclimates needed to produce first-class wines.
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Aug 26, 2001
There are wine souvenirs, and then there are wines
On the edge of autumn, vineyards are heavy with fruit. In the late afternoon, the air turns cool. The weeks before harvest are one of the most beautiful times of year to visit wineries. And you need not fly overseas for the experience.
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Aug 12, 2001
Best-sipped secret in Austria
In an era when wine has become a global industry, wine aficionados must search for handmade quality. Artisan wines are most exciting to find when they are insider tips -- unfamiliar to international consumers and thus still in the realm of good value. Dedicated fans scrutinize wine magazines, newsletters,...
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jul 29, 2001
Patrons of the arts and the vine
Wine and the arts belong together. In cafes from Vienna to New York, there's a tradition of poets, painters, composers and their cronies huddling around tables, where carafes of wine inspire debate, revolutions and love affairs. The food is simple, and the wines are rarely expensive. Yet the conversation,...
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jul 15, 2001
Wine comes alive through expert guidance
The next time you shop for wine, consider turning it into a leisurely expedition to Le Vin Vivant. Start in the store's cool, gold-painted cafe with a tasting of five recommended wines. The selection changes every other week and costs 1,800 yen (single glasses are 300 yen). If you are feeling peckish,...
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jul 1, 2001
Another shade of white
During the red wine boom of the '90s, one shade of white prevailed: Chardonnay. Most often produced in a big, rich, oaky international style, it was the heaviest, "reddest" white wine on the scene.
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jun 17, 2001
Visit new worlds on the wine list
A good wine list should not inspire anxiety. But unless you exist on an expense account, an encyclopedia-thick volume of precious trophy wines is daunting. It is also inadequate. A wine menu should invite exploration, with quality wines at a variety of price points.
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jun 3, 2001
A tip heard through the grapevine
One of our favorite destinations on the California wine route -- the Anderson Valley AVA (American Viticultural Area) -- is an insider tip. Less familiar and less traveled than Napa or Sonoma, it is situated among the redwood forests and unspoiled ridges of Mendocino County. The area is home to a community...
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
May 20, 2001
Large portfolio of wines blesses the Anderson Valley
An easy drive from San Francisco, Northern California's sun-drenched wine country is a favorite destination among devotees of food and drink. Napa Valley, home to many prestigious, big-name Cabernet Sauvignon producers, draws the heaviest tourist traffic. Napa visitors spill from buses at lavish tasting...
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
May 6, 2001
Zin and the art of wineries
For many years, California Zinfandel was the secret tip among red-wine fanatics who weren't obsessed with pedigree. The grape varietal earned its reputation for powerful, concentrated reds that sold for a fraction of the price of a decent Cabernet Sauvignon.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Tokyo Metro’s overseas efforts begin in earnest with London deal
Tokyo Metro will soon have a role in the running of London's Elizabeth Line, a major train route serving the U.K.’s capital city and environs.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
Ex-yokozuna Kitanofuji dies at 82
Yokozuna Kitanofuji enters the ring during the May 1970 grand sumo tournament in Tokyo.
Man charged with murder allegedly made victim date other men for money
A car carrying suspect Ryotaro Masuda, who was indicted for allegedly beating his 25-year-old girlfriend to death, leaves the Shibuya Police Station in Tokyo on Thursday.
Shohei Ohtani wins National League MVP award
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against the Padres during the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last month.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Around a quarter of Japan married couples in their 20s met through dating apps
A survey released by an organization promoting “Good Couples Day” shows that 24% of couples in their 20s met their marriage partner through a dating app.
'Tokyo Swindlers': Get deep into the minds of real estate con artists
In Ko Shinjo's "Tokyo Swindlers," a group of con artists manipulates real estate giants into falsified deals within the highly competitive, quick market.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
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