Jul 05 (Japan Today) - French wine lovers have risen up in revolt after a Japanese couple who make "outstanding" wine in southern France were threatened with deportation.
More than 42,000 have already signed a petition protesting the "crazy, moronic and shameful decision", with wine and restaurant critics now joining the outcry.
Rie and Hirofumi Shoji's "exceptional" red wine, Pedres Blanques (White Rocks), made from grenache grapes near Banyuls-sur-Mer in the French Catalan region of Roussillon, became an instant hit after their first harvest last year.
It has already made the cellars of the world's best restaurant, Can Roca, just across the Spanish border in Girona, and top Paris restaurants have also been vying to stock up on the natural wine.
Their first year of production completely sold out, with 10,000 bottles quickly snapped up and the price surging from 12 euros ($14) to 26 euros.
But immigration officials said the couple could not stay in France because they were not earning enough and their business was "not viable".
The Shojis sunk 100,000 euros of their savings and took out a 50,000 euro loan to buy their vineyards on difficult terrain where the Pyrenees mountains plunge into the Mediterranean. They harvest the grapes by hand, growing them organically and without adding anything to the wine.
