Capcom Chief Makes Mark in Wine

[tsukaesugi]

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20090328a8.html

Not a game: Capcom Co. founder and Chairman Kenzo Tsujimoto holds a bottle of the first wine produced at his winery in Napa, Calif., in February. KYODO PHOTO

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Capcom Chief Makes Mark in Wine
Kyodo News

Kenzo Tsujimoto, founder and chairman of game maker Capcom Co., sees similarities in managing the game business and one of his recent interests: wine-making.

The 68 year-old's private business passed a milestone last year as it launched the first vintages from his winery in Napa, Calif., in the fall.

The first shipment — 600 cases — sold out quickly. Buyers included upscale restaurants, including Koju, a Michelin three-star restaurant in Tokyo's Ginza district.

Just as talented game makers are essential for developing hit games, having good "terroir," or geographical characteristics, is just as crucial for making wine, Tsujimoto said. Terroir, which encompasses everything from a vineyard's soil to its regional weather conditions, bestows various flavors and other characteristics upon the wines made there.

Tsujimoto joined hands with prominent winemaker Heidi Barrett and vineyard manager David Abreu for his wine-making venture, spending ¥10 billion of his own money.

"People who make games are our creators. I try to get the best talents there are and make an effort to develop a fine product with them. In that sense, wine and games are the same," Tsujimoto said.

Tsujimoto nurtured Capcom into an enterprise with annual revenues of more than ¥80 billion in one generation. After graduating from high school in Nara Prefecture, he spent his early days working in the wholesaling business for small food retailers but changed jobs after determining that the approach of supermarkets was affecting the business. He eventually left his hometown for Osaka and jumped into the entertainment industry.

Tsujimoto began by leasing games imported from the United States and Europe, including pinball machines, to small candy stores. Later, he hitched a ride on the Space Invaders boom in the late 1970s, when video games took off.

"Video games went over big, and the transition from analog to digital took place . . . and Japan was strong at it, and took its turn selling (digital games) to the United States and Europe," he said.

In 1983, when Tsujimoto was 42, he set up Capcom, which went on to develop the blockbuster video game titles "Street Fighter" and "Biohazard," which was made into a Hollywood film starring actress Milla Jovovich.
The company's most recent hit is "Monster Hunter," a role-playing game that allows the player to team up with up to three other hunters online in search of monsters.

In 1990, Capcom's U.S. unit bought a large chunk of Napa real estate, including a struggling equestrian club Tsujimoto later bought in private to prevent it from dragging down the Capcom group.

He eventually decided to turn the property into a vineyard. "When some materials are given, it's in my nature to think of how I can make the most of them," he said.

His vineyard began producing grapes in 1998 and bore its first fruit in 2001. But Tsujimoto abandoned all 120,000 grape vines and started all over again after Abreu, his vineyard manager, told him he could do better.

"I listen to the advice of top-class people," he said. "(The development of) games is also full of re-creations."

After spending several more years developing the grapes, Tsujimoto and his team finally produced their first wines in 2008.

Tsujimoto fell back on his Japanese roots to find original names for the wines.

"Most of our games are totally original, such as music, characters, stories . . . so we do not have to bother about copyright," he said.

Tsujimoto selected three Japanese words suggesting the colors of the wines: "ai" (indigo), "murasaki" (purple) and "rindo" (gentians, or Japanese bellflowers). The bottles from the first vintage were wrapped in "furoshiki" (wrapping cloths) and packaged in a wooden box.

Ai, a cabernet sauvignon, goes for ¥15,000. Murasaki and Rindo — blends of cabernet, merlot, cabernet franc and petit verdot — are priced at ¥7,500. There is also Asatsuyu (Morning Dew), a sauvignon blanc, for ¥5,000.

People tend to become more picky when the economy is bad, Tujimoto said, but "as long as we release good products, I am confident that they will sell even during the current problems."

 

[Takumaji]

Kinda interesting to see that even Tsujimoto's patriotism ends at good grapes, he chose Napa valley instead of Fujisan southface for his wine... Japan may have the proper vulcanic soil for quality grapes but not the right weather conditions, at least not for standard varieties such as Sauvignon, Pinot or Italian stuff like Rondinella or Canaiolo.

Is there Made in Japan grape win at all?

 

[Poonman]

I thought this thread was about Galuda pissing into a vat of wine.
But this is kinda funny too.

 

[tsukaesugi]

Is there Made in Japan grape win at all?

If there is, I've never had it. All the J-Wine I've ever seen and / or drunk has been absolute plonk.

J-Whiskey on the other hand, is really starting to make a name for itself...

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090326n1.html

...although I still prefer a nice Islay to anything that Suntory or Nikka produce.

The Japanese are avid booze connoisseurs, so thankfully fine foreign alcohol is easily obtainable. You can buy pretty well any kind of drink known to man in Tokyo, and even when I lived up in countryside I could still find lots to choose from in the larger liquor stores.

 

[Lagduf]

If there is, I've never had it. All the J-Wine I've ever seen and / or drunk has been absolute plonk.

J-Whiskey on the other hand, is really starting to make a name for itself...

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090326n1.html

...although I still prefer a nice Islay to anything that Suntory or Nikka produce.

The Japanese are avid booze connoisseurs, so thankfully fine foreign alcohol is easily obtainable. You can buy pretty well any kind of drink known to man in Tokyo, and even when I lived up in countryside I could still find lots to choose from in the larger liquor stores.

So you get a good selection of beer then?

 

[Average Joe]

I got big into (red) wine even though I lack a truly discerning palette.

Then I became borderline broke so the quality drinks stopped coming.

 

[aria]

Interesting.

Yeah, the Japanese really got into Whiskey, and god knows I love Sapporo beer.

 

[Domino-chan]

So you get a good selection of beer then?

Get out of my head, 'Duf.

I may be blind, but I didn't find the name of his winery in the article. I'd like to pass it to my bro, who is a big wine enthusiast.

 

[wizkid007]

Who really likes the taste of wine? I mean honestly, if it wasnt for the stature behind drinking the damn stuff, I really doubt anybody would like this shit.

 

[Average Joe]

Who really likes the taste of wine?

People who like the taste of wine.

 

[cannonball]

Who really likes the taste of wine?

I do. But then again I think most beer tastes like shit. So maybe my taste buds are backwards since I'm a guy and I'm supposed to love beer and hate wine.

 

[wizkid007]

I guess, but its still a question if it is an accustomed taste I think, I mean once you put that glass to your mouth, its like my first instinct is to throw it across the room. I still think the image of being cultured helps the taste along quite a bit though.

However with that being said, I didnt really like beer all that much at first. Which now I really like.

 

[cannonball]

I guess, but its still a question if it is an accustomed taste I think, I mean once you put that glass to your mouth, its like my first instinct is to throw it across the room.

Now, I can only speak for myself, but I think this might be the case with most alcoholic beverages that don't have umbrellas sticking out of them.

 

[skotgun]

Now, I can only speak for myself, but I think this might be the case with most alcoholic beverages that don't have umbrellas sticking out of them.

well, i'll drink damn near anything with booze in it (even shit like Everclear *shudder*), but i fucking hate wine.

 

[SPINMASTER X]

Tell him to put the fuckin bottle down and draw some fuckin sprites.

 

[Takumaji]

Who really likes the taste of wine? I mean honestly, if it wasnt for the stature behind drinking the damn stuff, I really doubt anybody would like this shit.

lol

I... I don't really know what to say to this.

Tastes are tastes, eh.

 

[Twinkle Star]

Hehehe seems like he's livin his dream of becoming a wine-maker...

 

[norton9478]

Is Icewine any good?
Or is it just hype?

 

[Neo Mike]

Who really likes the taste of wine? I mean honestly, if it wasnt for the stature behind drinking the damn stuff, I really doubt anybody would like this shit.

I do. Mon-Friday I usually have a glass of vino with dinner - with a really good meal a glass of red is the way to go.

Beer seems to taste best after a hard days work to me - yardwork, working on cars, or (the only exception) watching baseball. Since i work in an office m-f beer is my weekend drink.

 

[OrochiEddie]

Wine is something you need to investigate a bit and look into. Picking up any random 3 dollar bottle doesn't always do, although some 3 dollar bottles are delicious. Being a College kid I find the shit thats the easiest to chug from the bottle.

 

[tsukaesugi]

So you get a good selection of beer then?

Liquor suppliers that sell directly to bars and restaurants can get their hands on anything, for example, there's a "world beer bar" in my area that sells 40+ kinds of bottled beer.

Liquor stores that sell to the public often stock a smaller selection of foreign beer compared to wines and whiskies. Right now Belgian beer is starting to get popular, so most upscale supermarkets sell a few varieties of that. There are also a few domestic Japanese microbreweries, and you can also find their products in the higher-end supermarkets.

Convenience stores are dominated by the big three breweries and their main products: Asahi Super Dry, Kirin Lager, Kirin Ichiban Shibori, and Sapporo Black Label.

Unfortunately, these same three breweries have developed something called "happoshu" in order to skirt the alcohol tax laws. Happoshu is basically low-malt beer, and it tastes like brown carbonated water. It's the second most disgusting stuff on the planet, and some cheap-ass bars, restaurants, and people will occasionally serve it.

The most disgusting stuff on the planet are even cheaper, lower-malt or no-malt alternatives to happoshu. The beer companies came up with this stuff in order to lower prices even further. They use things like soy and corn to brew the beer, and they taste like dirty brown carbonated water. Thankfully, these brews haven't really taken off in popularity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happoshu

 

[wizkid007]

with a really good meal a glass of red is the way to go.

.

See I can totally understand that, sometimes certain drinks def compliment certain food. But as for drinking it on its own, ill pass.

 

[cannonball]

See I can totally understand that, sometimes certain drinks def compliment certain food. But as for drinking it on its own, ill pass.

I hear it's best with some cheese, a crackling fire, and a novel you've been trying to finish writing for the past ten years. Of course the night will always end with you sitting alone in the dark listening to depeche mode wondering where it all went wrong.

 

[Deuce]

So maybe my taste buds are backwards since I'm a guy and I'm supposed to love beer and hate wine.

Agreed. I personally find beer to be disgusting. I'll take good liquor, though, and the right wine does complement some meals extremely well.

I figure, if one is going to drink, why not drink something with some actual alcohol in it? Go grizzly or go home. Or something like that.

 

[Lagduf]

Agreed. I personally find beer to be disgusting. I'll take good liquor, though, and the right wine does complement some meals extremely well.

I figure, if one is going to drink, why not drink something with some actual alcohol in it? Go grizzly or go home. Or something like that.

Fuck yeah Bro!

When i'm drinking I always go for something with actual alcohol in it! Nothing is better than some 190 Proof Everclear!

Go grizzly or go home, right?