There are a lot of stories, so it’s difficult to tell it all in one sentence. Of course each wine maker is trying to make good wine. There are specific ways to make wine according to the region, so what one winemaker does would be different from another. For instance, there is a great difference between someone who harvests with a machine and dumps it all into a tank and someone who hand picks grape by grape. You can’t tell once they are in the bottle. You can’t tell what happened behind the scene to make that bottle of wine. You can’t see the work that people have put in. There are people who can’t tell the difference even if they drink it. But we are more experienced, so when we notice something spectacular, it’s the natural wine. It’s the same with cooking; if you are used to it, you can tell the difference. There is a lot of similarities between cooking and wine. Both are something that are made by hand, aren’t they.

I am surrounded by people who make things. For instance the Boulanger just in front of us – he’s an amazing person. He is also one of the people who have helped me a lot. Bread is part of French culture. In Japan, you only have sandwich bread. I think this is something that is difficult to be understood in Japan. I didn’t know the different cereals, what “complait” meant, how you distinguish a good bread. He taught me a lot.