The standalone restaurant “Gaiemmae JULIA,” featured by Michelin, Gault & Millau and other guides,
is a team formed by female chef nao and owner-sommelier Motohashi.
(For the past two and a half years, they have paired every dish with Japanese wine.)
The moment the door opens, you enter JULIA's stylish world—completely unlike its exterior!
Guests pass through the first-floor lounge, normally used for aperitifs and after-dinner drinks, and head upstairs.
The open kitchen and counter immediately command attention, and even the flow and layout of the space are surprising.
Masafumi Nishiura, Executive Partner at CruX Co., Ltd., opened with greetings and introduced Naoyuki Ota, Director and Winery Head of Hiroshima Miyoshi Winery, along with JULIA's Motohashi and nao.
Then the makers' lunch began.
After Mr. Ota introduced the winery, we began with a toast using the sparkling wine “VILLAQUA YELLOW,” a silver-medal winner at both Decanter 2024 and IWC 2024.
Made from 100% Chardonnay with secondary fermentation in bottle, it has fine bubbles and rich aromas reminiscent of honey, pear and apricot.
Hiroshima Miyoshi Winery / VILLAQUA Yellow (White Sparkling) – Craft Wine Shop (craftwineshop.com)
The bite-size appetizers were intricate and beautiful. The rich umami of horse mackerel, bonito and Hitachi beef paired superbly with the dry wine.
The second course combined asparagus and pineapple in an inventive pairing, matched with a dry Delaware white wine.
Although the vintage differs, this wine also won a gold medal at the Japan Wine Competition the previous year.
Hiroshima Miyoshi Winery / TOMOE Delaware 2023 (White) 750ml – Craft Wine Shop (craftwineshop.com)
The rich oyster sauce, the tropical character of the Delaware, and the flavor of pineapple came together in an excellent pairing.
The third wine was TOMOE Chardonnay Shingetsu 2022, which also won bronze medals at Decanter 2024 and IWC 2024.
This luxurious Chardonnay is made with barrel fermentation, barrel malolactic fermentation and sur lie aging. With buttery, vanilla-oak impressions and a full-bodied finish, the wine accompanies the dish almost like a sauce.
The third dish was visually striking, with three layers of new-season onion topped with sweet shrimp, sea urchin and concentrated tomato.
The rosé is made from grapes grown in Miyoshi, though the cepage is undisclosed. It has fruity aromas reminiscent of yellow peach and pear.
Cutlassfish was paired with chrysanthemum-greens paste, the toasted character of dried zucchini and kabosu citrus, bringing the dish strongly toward a Japanese style.
The lineup was already impressive, but it became even more remarkable in the second half.
There was the new “POSH” series, whose labels had not even been completed yet, and TOMOE Pinot Noir 2016, which received high praise when first released in 2018 and had been bottle-aged in the winery cellar. Apparently only 100 bottles exist, and even the release date remains undecided.
The wine showed a seductive ruby color and wonderful aromas, with clean acidity and smooth tannins coexisting in a texture truly like velvet.
Mr. Ota had explained everything calmly and carefully up to that point, but from here his passion became much more evident.
And we could not help admiring the graceful movements of the JULIA staff.
Hitachi beef was served with three green sauces, letting us enjoy different flavors alongside risotto.
The final beautiful dessert combined melon, chamomile and mojito. It was paired with Semillon Late Harvest (very sweet), which apparently had not yet been bottled. The plan was to bottle it in 375ml format, though 750ml bottles were used for this event.
Naturally, the release schedule is still undecided.
A wonderful lineup. There is no photograph of the very sweet wine.
Restaurant | JULIA | Gaiemmae (juliahospitalitygroup.com)
The finest Japanese wine: Hiroshima Miyoshi Winery's TOMOE wines (tomoe-wine.jp)
Naoyuki Ota
Hiroshima Miyoshi Winery Co., Ltd., Director and Winery Head
Born in Osaka in 1969. Moved to New Zealand in 1997 and began working in vineyards. He gradually became fascinated by winemaking and studied professionally at Lincoln University while working at a New Zealand winery. He returned to Japan at the end of 2012 and began working at Miyoshi Winery in February 2013. Since then, he has continued pursuing new winemaking in his own distinctive style and is regarded as a highly promising winemaker.
Masafumi Nishiura
Executive Partner, CruX Co., Ltd.
Chief Coordinator, NihonWine.jp
