We give Clos Pegase stars: Yelp | Trip Advisor

Now, if you were to ask the wise-acre, Bacchus, "how do you make a small fortune in the wine business?" chances are he'd reply: "start with a large fortune." In the case of Clos Pegase, that large fortune came from -- of all places -- the Japanese publishing industry. In 1955, our founder, Jan Shrem, who was studying for his Master's degree at UCLA, took what he thought was going to be a little vacation in Japan. He fell in love with the place -- and with a woman named Mitsuko -- and he decided to stick around. For the next thirteen years.

To support himself, Jan began importing English-language reference and technical books to a market hungry for all things Western. He was in the right place at the right time. Building on his success, he began translating and publishing books in Japan as well, and, by the time he sold his company in 1968 to elope with Mitsuko to Europe, it had grown to some 50 offices and nearly 2,000 employees.