Episode 13: The Wine Cellar | Japanese Wine

In this cellar dating from the early twentieth century, you can see 19 French oak barrels, each with a specially assigned number and its accurate maximum volume rating. Although large oak barrels and stainless steel tanks often look identical in size, their actual volumes vary considerably, so the Japanese tax authorities had the winery develop painstaking methods for measuring volume. Thus, a newly acquired barrel, whether produced overseas or domestically, is filled with a known quantity of water and then the water level inside the tank is checked with a measuring rod reserved specifically for that tank or barrel in order to accurately determine its total volume. By doing so, the winery can quickly and accurately determine the amount of tax it must pay to the Japanese tax authorities. From 1975 to the year 2000, large numbers of sommeliers from around Japan were invited to try wine straight from these barrels! Of course the amount the sommeliers consumed was reported to the tax authorities. It is interesting to note that the beam at the entrance to this cellar had to be shaved down in order to get these large barrels into the cellar. Some of these barrels were in use as recently as 2010.