Things I didn't try early on: Japanese wine

When I first moved here many moons ago, one of the "big things" I wanted to try was Japanese sake, and I ticked that off pretty early on. I think everyone knows about sake, but what I had no clue about before moving here was Japanese wine!

I didn't really explore it, either, until moving out here to Niigata. We have a winery in our local area (Echigo Winery) and it's very easy to pop over to their retail store to grab a bottle every now and then. They also host an annual grape festival around the September timeframe, which is really fun to attend. 

I would highly recommend scoping out your local areas to see if there are any wineries near you!