Japanese wine merchants are reducing their orders this year, and cutting costs wherever possible, but the price increases are unavoidable.

“Beaujolais has usually been priced at ¥2,000 to ¥3,000, but it will be nearly twice as expensive this year – it is an abnormal situation,” a beverage industry insider said.

Suntory Holdings announced on July 5 its reference retail prices for Beaujolais Nouveau for 2022 – ¥3,080 to ¥5,500, which are 40% to 120% respectively higher than 2021. Suntory is also only offering eight wines this year compared to 15 previously.

Beaujolais Nouveau is sold from the third Thursday of November each year, which is the 17th this year.

The wine is normally transported by air rather than ship because of the unusually short window between production and release.

In Asia, Beaujolais Nouveau is especially popular in Japan. Because of the time difference, wine lovers in the East get to taste the wine before their counterparts in Europe.

The light-bodied wine is considered an early indicator of the year’s likely overall vintage.

The services producer price index for May issued by the Bank of Japan indicated that international air freight transportation was up 75.8% compared to the same month last year, well exceeding the 60.8% rise for ocean freight transportation in the same period.

Mercian, a Kirin Holdings subsidiary that retails alcoholic beverages, began accepting orders in early July. It has given reference prices up to twice those for 2021. The company is only offering two wines, both in plastic bottles to reduce costs and environmental impact.

In a bid to “cut prices as much as possible,” Sapporo Breweries will be transporting some of its cases by ship, and these will arrive after the official release date.

Aeon Retail, a subsidiary of Aeon, will import Beaujolais Nouveau through Cordon Vert, a Tokyo-based wine and liquor importer jointly owned by Aeon and Yamaya, to reduce logistics costs.

Japan’s imports of Beaujolais Nouveau declined 5% year on year in 2021 to 290,000 cases, according to a Suntory estimate. Imports have now fallen for nine consecutive years since reaching a peak of 740,000 cases in 2012.