Japan

Grape-growing and, to a lesser extent, wine production have a long history in this Far Eastern country, even though wine drinking on any appreciable scale is a relatively recent phenomenon. Between 1990 and 2012 wine consumption more than doubled but is still only 2.6 l per capita—low by European standards, but by far the highest in Asia. There are now more than 200 domestic wineries in all 47 prefectures and sales under domestic labels accounted for 32% of total wine sales in Japan in 2010.