Description

PRODUCER:
Grace Wine was established in 1923 in the Yamanashi Prefecture, the birthplace of the Japanese wine industry. Committed to the belief that great wine is made in the vineyard, they were the first to research and introduce European training and pruning methods, such as using long cordon training and Vertical Shoot Positioning in 1990. Since 2016, the vineyards have been cultivated using organic practices. Grace Wine has also joined the ‘4% Initiative’ project, which focuses on soil health for food security and to help combat climate change. Talented winemaker Ayana Misawa crafts wines from the indigenous Koshu grape variety in a contemporary style, which beautifully captures the delicate characteristics of this individual and exciting grape variety.

VINEYARD:
Made from Japan’s most important indigenous grape variety: Koshu. The grapes for this wine are grown on the foothills of Mt. Kayagatake from estate-managed vineyards at an altitude of 400 to 700 metres. The vines are planted in distinctively volcanic soils with good drainage, providing excellent growing conditions. The vineyard has a cool climate but also abundant sunshine, allowing the slow maturation of the grapes over a long growing season. Traditional trellis pruning has been cast aside in favour of a modern long cordon training system, which helps to control yields, concentrating flavours and sugars to balance the high acidity that occurs naturally in this variety. The grapes were hand-harvested at optimum maturity. The vineyard is organically and sustainably cultivated.

WINEMAKING:
The winemaking philosophy emphasises preserving the healthy state of the grapes by ensuring harvest takes place at the optimum time through appropriate analysis, rapid crushing and anaerobic juice handling in order to produce clean, natural and pure wines, bringing out the potential in the fruit. Fermentation took place in stainless steel tanks at carefully controlled temperatures to ensure the purity of the fruit and that the terroir was fully expressed.

TASTING NOTE:
Elegant aromas of green apple, grapefruit, chamomile and white pepper lead to a smooth, bone-dry palate. This is a delicate yet tense white wine, with a lively acidity that gives beautiful structure through to a long, mouthwatering finish.

GRAPES:
Koshu 100%.