The Japanese may have had a poor start in the World Cup, but they are toasting the host nation, driving up sales of German wine.

Soccer fan holds his head, after Japan lost to Australia during FIFA World Cup Germany 2006, at Saitama Stadium in Saitama, north of Tokyo.[Reuters]

Japan's Kirin Brewery said it has received orders for 4,400 cases of German white wine from January to May, more than double the 1,700 in all of last year.

The brewery has put the team's logo on the bottles of the J. Jung Sohne Zeller Schwarze Katz wine, but hopes sales will outlast the World Cup, where Japan was clobbered in its crucial opener against Australia.

"The World Cup has surely contributed to the order increase. We hope for more sales as the tournament goes on but at the same time don't want this boom to subside," said Yoshiki Yamashita, spokesman at Kirin Brewery.

Rival brewery Suntory remarketed a German wine, P.J. Valckenberg Liebfraumilch Madonna, in April and saw sales increase by 66 percent year-on-year last month.

"And not only the World Cup but also German Year in Japan contributed to the exposure of the word 'Germany' in Japan," said Kazumasa Nishizaki, spokesman at Suntory, referring to a year of events promoting Germany here.

Germany last year was the seventh top wine exporter to Japan with about 5.2 million liters (1.4 million gallons), according to the finance ministry. France was by far the highest, followed by Italy and the United States.