[2023] Kenichi Ohashi

Kenichi is the most active wine and sake expert in Japan. Born in Tochigi Prefecture, he is the third generation owner of Yamajin Co., Ltd. (a distributor specialized in wine, sake and local spirits). Kenichi also has his own consultancy company, Red Bridge Co., Ltd. He is very active in the wine and sake world both at home and abroad. In recent years, he is continuing to contribute to the global sake promotion, as a sake co-chairman of the International Wine Challenge.

In 2015, he became the first Japanese national resident in Japan to obtain certification from the Institute of Masters of Wine (IMW). He also has been certified as a Sake Expert Assessor, the highest qualification of National Research Institute of Brewing Japan.

In 2016, Kenichi was nominated as one of the ‘100 Next Generation Creatives’ by the Nikkei Business magazine and awarded the most prestigious The Personality of the Year by the IWC (International Wine Challenge London). He is also awarded the title Sake Samurai by the Japan Sake Brewers Association Junior Council in 2018.

More recently, Kenichi co-founded The Wine Station (www.the-winestation.com), Japan’s largest next-generation online wine community.

Kenichi says, “As one of the Asian MWs, I wish to provide my Japanese opinions to wine in Asia and to contribute to create an entire “Asian quality hierarchy”.

“I always look forward to the Food & Wine judging. It always shows great diversity in the wines entered and our objective is to find the best matches to suit Asian tastes.

“A medal win in the HKIWSC will help producers in their marketing strategies to enter the Asian market.”