How Japan became a wine country

The Meiji era: learning, experimenting, building

Yamanashi’s May 2026 publication dates early Kōfu winemaking by Yamada Hironori and Takuma Norihisa to 1874, correcting older accounts that gave 1870–71. It cites newspaper and archival evidence for the revision.

After the Meiji Restoration, the government encouraged new industries and the introduction of foreign knowledge. In this context, the Dai-Nihon Yamanashi Budōshu Kaisha was founded in Katsunuma in 1877 and is considered Japan’s first private wine company. It sent Takano Masanari and Tsuchiya Ryūken to France to learn grape growing and winemaking. Production began after their return in 1879. Technical difficulties and an undeveloped market put pressure on the company, which dissolved in 1886. Miyazaki Kōtarō and Tsuchiya continued the work with the inherited facilities.

Later development was not a straightforward success story of one winery. Katsunuma developed a network of growers, wineries and merchants. Marufuji’s family history, associated with Rubaiyat, illustrates these links: Ōmura Chūbei helped finance the company in 1877; his son Jisaku began making wine in 1882 and obtained an official production licence in 1890. These different dates explain why a winery may distinguish between family roots, the start of production and formal establishment.

Buildings preserve another side of this history. Lumière’s underground granite fermentation vessels were constructed in 1901 under Kamiya Denbei’s guidance. Ushiku’s large winery was completed in 1903, bringing grape growing, production, storage and bottling into an integrated operation.

Sweetened and aromatised wine products also helped develop a market. Their place in nineteenth-century drinking culture should be understood on its own terms: the modern legal category Japan Wine cannot simply be applied to every historical product called wine.

New techniques, a new view of origin

Later developments can be traced through specific changes. Marufuji records the purchase of French grape-processing machinery in 1966 and a cooled cellar in 1973. Such investments show that wine quality also has a history of processing and storage. It does not depend solely on the grape variety named on the label.

From 1970, Mercian investigated the relationship between sites and varieties, including Merlot in Kikyōgahara and Chardonnay in Hokushin. International grapes became part of the same search for suitable local growing conditions.

For Kōshū, sur-lie ageing, which keeps wine in contact with its lees, was an important development. Mercian adopted the approach in 1983 and released the wine in 1984. Yamanashi’s official chronology connects this period with a move towards dry styles suited to meals. The two dates describe production and release respectively.

Skin contact and aroma research subsequently broadened the possibilities. Mercian’s chronology lists Kōshū Gris de Gris in 2003; collaboration with Denis Dubourdieu’s Bordeaux research team contributed to the citrus-led Kiiroka style. These developments explored qualities already present in the grape.

Kōshū joined the OIV’s international variety list in 2010, followed by Muscat Bailey A in 2013. Listing identifies a grape variety; it does not award quality status to individual wines. Nor should it be described as the first permission to sell those wines in the EU.

The key milestones

1. 1874Early Kōfu production, following Yamanashi’s revised dating.
2. 1877Private wine company founded; Takano and Tsuchiya travel to France.
3. 1879 / 1886Production begins; company later dissolves and successors continue.
4. 1890Iwanohara founded.
5. 1901 / 1903Lumière’s stone vessels; Ushiku winery completed.
6. 1927Muscat Bailey A cross made.
7. 1983 / 1984Kōshū sur-lie production and subsequent release.
8. 2010 / 2013Kōshū and Muscat Bailey A enter the OIV list.
9. 2013Yamanashi wine GI designated.
10. 2015 / 2018Labelling rules announced and subsequently applied.