Should you ever be lucky enough to get your hands on a bottle of wine from Beau Paysage — the cult producer in Yamanashi Prefecture, whose coveted cuvees sell out within hours of release — look at the back label. On it, you'll find a message from winemaker Eishi Okamoto, earnestly delivered in Japanese and English: "A glass of wine can change the world."
The rest of the quote, which incorporates a line or two from John Lennon's "Imagine," goes on to qualify this statement ("We can change the world if we change our daily food and drink") and urge support for Okamoto's mission: to promote sustainable agriculture.
When I met Okamoto in July, he was wearing a T-shirt imprinted with this slogan as he prepared to speak about the role winemakers can play in the sustainability movement. As a mostly organic producer, he thinks of himself less as a vintner than an environmental caretaker who translates the terroir of his vineyards into luscious merlots and piquant pinot noirs.
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