History

My family has always had an entrepreneurial flair, my great grandfather founded the shop ‘Nicolas’ in the 19th Century. And for many a year, my father Patrick journeyed through the wine regions of France to find where the harmony between man and nature is best expressed.

Our creative spirit continues in the present day, as we try to engage in new relationships in the both the cultural sense of Brillat-Savarin and the human sense of Ivan Illitch. We go to great lengths in our moral responsibility as a business: we aim to satisfy the growing passion in Asia for French wines while still supporting traditions and the ancient knowledge and way of life of French and Navarran winemakers which first developed under the reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715).

After decades of close collaboration with wine makers, SBC is continuing to follow its own unique path to discover new relationships and possibilities.

The fruit of our labour and our passion is that SBC can now return to Japan. Having started there 37 years ago bringing the finest French wines to Japan, our history is today being echoed by the new generation of Toji – sake brewers – who are looking to new horizons – bringing the finest sakes to France. Their knowledge is ancient, having been passed on from generation to generation since the beginning of the Edo Period (1603-1867). Today’s sake brewers can offer subtle brews, so exquisite that they would make even the most beautiful of fine wines turn pale.

We will continue to survey the Japanese countryside to find the perfect harmony between man and nature and offer it up to the world of gastronomy, in the hope of bringing about new forms of togetherness.

We can achieve great things by realizing that in a world which today claims to be without borders, mutual understanding can only be harnessed by the sharing of land.

Since 1978, SBC has been the link bringing together different ways of life and understanding them, no matter how different we may be.