The 9th SAKURA Japan Women's Wine Awards Tasting Assessment Was Held!

When shopping at supermarkets or wine shops,
have you ever seen bottles with cherry blossom stickers like this?
That is the mark of a "SAKURA Award" winning wine.

Celebrating its 9th edition this year, this tasting assessment was held again at Hotel Gajoen Tokyo. (Scheduled to be held in Osaka on April 13)
Let's take a closer look at what kind of competition it is.

The major characteristic of this competition is, above all, that all the judges are women.
A total of 430 female sommeliers active in various fields such as importers, wine educators, and liquor retailers
evaluate wines based on the criteria of "wines that are reasonably priced and pair well with Japanese home cooking."
Although wine competitions judged by women are also held in other regions such as Burgundy,
they are still quite rare worldwide.

This year, an astonishing 4,652 items from 25 countries around the world were gathered! (The highest number ever)
Among them, 387 bottles were Japanese wine.

The award categories consist of Double Gold, Gold, and Silver, following the highest accolade, the Diamond Trophy.
And what is interesting is the category of other "Best Wine for Asian Foods and Grand Prix."
Here, wines that pair well with specific dishes such as sushi, tempura, sukiyaki, and yakitori are selected.
With this, even if you are not very familiar with wine, you will not have to worry about pairings.
In addition, various unique special awards are prepared.

Now, when will these award-winning wines be announced?
Here is the upcoming schedule of interest.

【Upcoming Schedule】
4/13 SAKURA Awards 2022 Osaka Session
4/25 Announcement of Award-Winning Wines
The awards announcement will be made on the official SAKURA Awards website.

【SAKURA Awards Website】
http://www.sakuraaward.com/jp/index.html

Around Golden Week, it looks like you will be able to enjoy the award-winning wines with your family and friends.