Spend enough time drinking wine in Tokyo, whether it be in a hip natural wine bar, at a regional wine event or simply at a home party with fellow wine lovers, and you will invariably meet someone who proudly proclaims, “I’m a wine expert!” but then goes on to say that they are, in fact, a doctor or something, rather than a sommelier.
In the early 2000s, certified sommeliers in Japan numbered around 7,000. As of 2023, however, the Japan Sommelier Association (JSA) lists just shy of 40,000 such accredited specialists in the country, with hundreds more joining the ranks each year.
It seemed odd to me at first that so many “experts” I bumped into clearly didn’t work in the wine industry and seemed to merely enjoy drinking the stuff. But I would simply assume I put too much stock in the word, sip my wine and mumble something about being more of a “nomulier” myself — a common Japanese wine gag blending “sommelier” and the word “nomu” (to drink).
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