THE QUEST

FULL TO THE BRIM Japanese might seem new and strange, but Koshu –cultivation has been around for centuries. ADAM H. GRAHAM takes a tasting tour of a country you’ve probably never considered. ILLUSTRATIONS BY ANAWAT MUANGTHONG

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM 31 O, NOT SAKE. AND NOT PLUM WINE, alongside Buddhism and Chinese kanji—all thanks Nagano either. ’s Koshu grape, helped to China’s influential Silk Road trade routes. But Long a leader of Japanese sake production, along by rising global temperatures wine and myth are common bedfellows, and the Nagano’s Alpine slopes are home to hundreds of THE QUEST THE and fertile, volcanic soil, is the star of legend of Gyoki might just be that. What we know divided into two distinct appellations: Japanese viticulture—something you for sure is that Japan’s domestic wine production Kikyogahara Valley and Chikumagawa Valley. may not have even known existed started in earnest sometime much later, in the Kikyogahara is marked by a rugged landscape N until now. In fact, 16 prefectures are Meiji restoration of the late 1800s, when the island whose base is alluvial, and acidic soil deposited by currently in the business of serious , nation opened up, and allowed new foods and the Narai River. An elevation of 700 meters and with thousands of individual farmers growing for ideas into Japanese culture. practically guaranteed sunshine have made this some 265 . Of those, “The Big Five” are While the industry might be booming, touring area Japan’s modern capital, though recent owned by large beverage companies; the industry Japanese wine country is no easy task. Many years have seen sneaky stealing some has become so competitive that powerhouses like wineries are off the Shinkansen track and most of Merlot’s thunder. Italy and France are starting to take notice. vintners don’t speak English, making a guide Chikumagawa, a 90-minute drive away, is Japanese wine is not a new thing. It begins essential. If you’re new to the scene, key dominated by the active volcanic Mount Asama. with the tale of an undocumented immigrant winemaking prefectures like Nagano and The mountain had long produced rice, silk and monk from Korea named Gyoki, who is said to Yamanashi are good places to start, though Japan’s mulberries before were imported here have first planted grape seeds in Japan in 718 A.D. southernmost island of Kyushu is also ripe for the from China during the Meiji era, and now it’s a It’s believed that this “punk monk” was part of a tasting, with several prefectures producing some veritable Chardonnay Land. wave of new ideas that came to agrarian Japan of the country’s finest bottles. No matter your preference, the most important winemaker in Nagano, and arguably all of Japan, should not be missed. Château Mercian (chateaumercian.com), is the modern-day incarnation of the Great Japan Yamanashi Wine Company, which was established in 1877 as Japan’s climate here allows Koshu grapes to reach optimal first, and is now owned by the Kirin Group. Call sugar content. for an appointment to visit the group’s Nagano Most big vineyards in Yamanashi are open to wineries, the original Kikyogahara and the tastings without appointments. Chateau Mercian’s newer Mariko Winery in Chikumagawa, which airy flagship tasting room at Katsunuma Winery offers a sleek tasting room with sweeping views of (chateaumercian.com) is as welcoming and Mount Tateshina. modern as anything you’ll find in Oregon or Also worth checking out is Izutsu Winery , with wine geeks enjoying a bottle on (izutsuwine.co.jp), in Kikyogahara Valley. Opened the winery’s sunny green lawn. Run by fourth- in 1933, it’s known for its brick, church-like tasting generation winemaker Haruo Omura, neighboring room. Its AOC barrel-fermented Chardonnay Marufuji Winery (rubaiyat.jp/en), a two-minute nabbed the 2015 Gold Medal in the Japan Wine drive away, produces a barrel-aged Koshu and Competition. So after you’re done in the tasting noble European varietals like their perfectly oaked corner, fill your tote with concord jam, port-wine Rubaiyat Chardonnay. sponge cake and prized Chardonnay to take home. Domaine Mie Ikeno (mieikeno.com) on the For an overnight stay in Nagano wine country, border of Nagano sits on an exposed ridge 750 slip into some lime-green jinbei (pajamas) and bed meters up, with arresting views of Mount Fuji and down at the elegant ryokan, Kai Matsumoto the Yatsugatake Mountains. Proprietor Mie Ikeno (hoshinoresorts.com; doubles from ¥40,000). is one of the few female winemakers in Japan. Her Bathe in an elaborate onsen fed by the waters of methods follow traditional Burgundian organic Asama hot spring and then head to the lobby for and sustainable processes like gravity flow, the resort’s nightly wine-tasting-slash-classical- moonlight harvesting and hand labeling, creating music concerts. that have become cult classics, selling out within minutes of release. They express a serious Yamanashi dedication to —not surprising since she If Nagano is Sonoma, then Yamanashi is Napa. studied in Montpelier. Both offer quality wines, but the wine-tourism There are plenty of dangerous mountains in infrastructure of Yamanashi is much more Japan but for those more tempted by free-flow developed. The prefecture accounts for 30 percent than freeriding, Budo no Oka (budounooka.com), of Japan’s total wine production thanks to the aptly nicknamed Wine Mountain might be the perfect conditions of Kofu Basin. Protected by a most perilous of them all. It has a wine-themed 3,000-meter-high fortress of mountains, which restaurant and a rambling cellar full of barrel limits rainfall and guarantees sunshine, the tables with more than 200 bottles, including

TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM 33 32 TRAVEL+LEISURE | APRIL / MAY 2020 THE QUEST THE

orange wines, rosés, barrel-fermented Koshus and Tempranillos and Pinot Noirs but also features an . Pay the ¥1,520 admission and pour freely, extensive line of sparkling fruit wines, not to imbibing at your discretion. Good thing it’s also a mention Limoncello, white brandy and a hotel with its own sobering rooftop bath. biodynamic potato shochu. If you don’t plant yourself here, try “family Winery (kyoho-winery.com), located in resort with wine” Risonare Yatsugatake (risonare. the dense forests of Tanushimaru Kurume-shi, is com; doubles from ¥34,182) with its wine-based the oldest winery in Kyushu, and was the first to spa, wine school, aperos, grape-based spa cultivate Kyoho grapes. You’ll also find fruit wines treatments and the après-ski Yukimari Wine Bar. here, made from strawberries, blueberries and even tangerines. Kyushu—Oita, Kumamoto, Miyazaki For a historic stay, check in to Hotel Cultia Outside of the Alps, some of Japan’s best wines Dazaifu (vmg.co.jp; doubles from ¥43,000), an old come from the island of Kyushu, home to a dozen- artist’s house converted to a small inn with shojio plus wineries concentrated in three prefectures. screens, tatami mats and exposed wooden beams Ajumu Budoushu Koubou Winery just outside Fukuoka. It’s the perfect place to (ajimubudoushukoubou.com) is nestled into a settle into Kyushu’s slower pace, and crack open a verdant hillside in Oita’s misty basin. It’s one of bottle or two to taste the terroir of this ancient the few Japanese producers using acacia barrels to volcanic island. age Chardonnay, but also craft sweet wines like Muscat Bailey A and Delaware. Gokase Winery (gokase-winery.jp) and Tsuno Winery (tsunowine.com) are both in Miyazaki A local guide will go a long way—and a Japanese Prefecture. The former produces rosés, un-oaked guide with a driver is even better since many Chards and sparkling , which won the wineries do not have English speakers and are also Sakura Double Gold Award, a competition run and off the Shinkansen path. Remote Lands (remotelands.com) has a great grasp on the region judged solely by women. The latter emphasizes and has a team of specialists in Japanese wine, natural wines, like unfiltered Chardonnays, sake, whisky and other spirits.

34 TRAVEL+LEISURE | APRIL / MAY 2020