Wine lovers in Tokyo are no longer far removed from the international wine scene. We have access to great wine shops and restaurants with well-chosen wines in every price category. And as we've investigated in the last few columns, bottles of wine now turn up even in formerly unthinkable locations, such as ramen shops, yakitori bars and elegant temples of washoku.

But every now and then, there's a gap -- an area where Japan still lags behind and wine aficionados here are left to wait and yearn. A stunning wine discovery that generates an excited buzz around the United States and Europe can linger unnoticed in Japan. For example, in the world's premier wine magazines like Wine Spectator and Decanter, and in top restaurants from San Francisco to Stockholm, the wines from one small nation have lately drawn large acclaim. Yet these wines remain conspicuous in their absence from Tokyo wine lists and shop shelves.

We're talking about a little gem of a country, slightly smaller than the state of Maine. Its inhabitants total 8 million -- that's less than the population of Tokyo alone. It shares borders with a complex jumble of neighbors: Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein and Switzerland (OK, you geography buffs can now grin with victory).