Saturday September 27th, saw the famed Brut restaurant and bar in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo packed to capacity, over 60 invitees were attending the launch of the Dimbulla Estate wines in Japan.

Kumar Group chairman, Dilip Kumar was hosting the wine tasting, presenting two of his own Reds. A Shiraz and a Tempranillo.

Koji Tokumasu, CEO of the Japan Rugby Football Union introduced Dilip and invited Dilip to give a speech. In his introduction, Dilip said that he came to Australia from Sri Lanka to find R & R. Rugby and Reds. With his love for wines firmly cemented, he then ventured into wine making.

To keep the quality of his wines high, the yield per acre is controlled to about 2 tons of grapes per acre, compared to 20 tons per acre in other vineyards.

His wines were marketed in Australia with immediate success, winning several awards. Internationally too, the wines won medals at every show where they were displayed.

The Japanese market has one of the largest variety of wines in the world. French, Italian, US, NZ, Australian, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Austrian, Turkish, South African and much more. Increasingly the Japanese are preferring wines to sprits and the sales of wines have been hitting record highs year after year.

Famed wine expert Masaaki Kanazawa spoke to Ozlanka and noted that the Dimbulla wines were easily the best Aussie wines that he has sipped. Rich in flavour, a pleasant bouquet and the distinctive tannin touch that is very rare in other Australian Reds.

The wine tasting had Rugby fans, Rugby book author, no less than 3 wine experts, several wine importers, many members of the expatriate community and several diplomats.

The consensus was clear. First class wines indeed!

Click here to see 27 photos from the event