Japan – facts and figures

Although viticulture and the cultivation of grapes for table consumption has a long history in Japan, domestic wine production using locally produced grapes only really began with the adoption of Western culture during the second half of the 19th century. Wine making in Japan started at the time of Japan adopting “Western Civilization” during the Meiji era. The Meiji Era was the 44-year period of Japan’s history from 1868 to 1912 when the country was under the rule of Emperor Mutsuhito. Also called the Meiji Emperor, he was the first ruler of Japan to wield actual political power in centuries and had a vision to industrialise Japan, encouraging the country to start new enterprises such as wine.

Despite a long history of viticulture in Japan, grapes were grown to be eaten fresh and were not made into wine due to the existence of other types of liquor in Japan. It was around 1870 that the first wine was officially made in Japan when Hironori Yamada and Norihisa Takuma founded a cooperative winery and produced wines from grapes. In 1877, the Dai Nippon Yamanashi Wine Company was founded in Katsunuma, in the Yamanashi region with the founders sent to France to learn viticulture and wine making.

While wine has been imported into Japan for some time, it has struggled to break into the food culture of Japan, where rice is the major part of a meal. Sweet wines were first to gain popularity as the taste worked with the Japanese palate and food. The large-scale success of sweet wines built a base to expand the market for other wines and generated the interest to continue developing vineyards in Japan. Growth and interest in wine also influenced the creation of the Yamanashi Grape Training School in 1956 to train future viticulturalists. Since the International Exposition (in Osaka) took place in 1970, increase of overseas travel and westernisation of eating habits, wine importation has continued to grow.  The new wine market was aggressively marketed, and wine has rapidly penetrated Japanese life. At the same time, Japanese winemakers have come to produce world class wines by improving viticulture and oenological techniques.

Climate

Japan is a long narrow country with extremely complicated topography. In the north of the country, it can be bitterly cold in winter with regular heavy snowfall, while the south is verging on tropical with narrow temperature variation. Climate differs not only by latitude but also by the location, such as on the Pacific Ocean on one side, the Japan Sea on the other with numerous meso-climates in-land. In addition, there are various valleys and mountains in-land which have differing altitudes and slope aspects. It has been generally considered that Japan has disadvantageous natural conditions for European wine grapes as the predominantly warm and humid climate invites grape diseases. However, with recent improvements in understanding various topography and meso-climates, and with the efforts in developing training systems to fit the climate, high quality wines are being produced in many regions, in particular, areas with higher altitude.

Key grape varieties

Among wine grapes cultivated in Japan, Koshu (say it – Koh-shoo) has dominated white wine with Muscat Bailey ‘A’ (a Japanese hybrid) for red have been widely grown for a long time.  European noble varieties grown include Muscat, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc for white wine with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc for red wines. American varieties have also been used along with indigenous ‘mountain grapes’ that still grow wild in the mountains of Japan.

Koshu is the closest Japan comes to having an indigenous wine grape variety and is believed to have been grown for more than a thousand years. Koshu grapes have oval shaped bunches with light reddish-purple skin. Legend has it that a priest, called Yukimoto, had a vision of Buddha carrying Koshu grapes on the day of the full moon and was so inspired he decided to build the Daizen-ji temple according to his dream, with Koshu grapes planted around the temple. Until recently, the perception of Koshu was that it lacked real aromas and flavours with no specific character, so was often made into off-dry wines. However, after much research, vinification techniques have improved balance by using specific yeasts, lees ageing and careful use of oak to give dry Koshu wines pleasing varietal aromas and characters which are now gaining international recognition. Muscat Bailey A is a hybrid variety for red wines created in 1927 by Kawakami Zenbei, the “grandfather” of Japanese wine, by crossing Bailey (itself a hybrid of American grape varieties) and Black Muscat. It is highly resistant to diseases and pests found in warm, damp climates of Japan but will also tolerate the harsh, cold winters of the north. Today, Muscat Bailey A is one of Japan’s most popular wine grapes. It is most often used to make light-styled, fruity reds, low in both tannins and acidity.

Wine laws

The wine laws in Japan include “Liquor Tax Laws” which were created with a view to raising taxes and are combined with other laws such as food sanitation, weights and measures, consumer protection and environmental protection. The wine category includes fruit wines in general, so laws are not designed to produce high quality grape wines. The production laws are defined as:

1. Fermented liquor made from fruits (including fruit juice) or from fruits and water with or without sugar. (Including liquors made by re-fermentation of above by adding sugar.)

2. If chaptalization is conducted, the final ABV must to be less than 15% and the quantity of sugar for chaptalization must not exceed quantity of natural sugars in the grapes.

3. Sugars for chaptalisation are limited to Sucrose, Glucose and Fructose.

4. In case of adding alcohol to fortify, its volume must not exceed 10% of the total alcohol.

 Japanese wine laws also allow for using imported grapes, juice or must. Labelling is reasonably strict, however, and must state the production area of grapes, grape variety, vintage and specific terms such as ‘Noble Rot‘ and ‘Estate Bottling’ and forbid unfair descriptions on the label.  Labels must also state whether the wine is produced from Japanese grapes, imported grapes, Japanese Grape Juice, Imported Grape Juice or Imported Wine.