Grape varieties with a story of their own

Kōshū: an old cultivated grape with complex ancestry

Yamanashi preserves stories linking Kōshū to the monk Gyōki in 718 and Amemiya Kageyu in 1186. The prefecture explicitly calls these legends. They form part of regional culture, rather than proving the grape’s arrival date.

NRIB research identifies predominantly Vitis vinifera ancestry alongside East Asian wild-vine ancestry. Kōshū’s examined chloroplast DNA closely matches a southern Chinese Vitis davidii lineage; as the simplest explanatory model, the researchers propose a cross with an East Asian wild vine followed by a further cross with Vitis vinifera.

Kōshū is therefore a traditional Japanese cultivated variety closely associated with Yamanashi, with complex ancestry. “Native” does not mean all its ancestors were Japanese wild vines. Nor is it genetically unmixed European. Its Asian background and precise route to Japan should not be confused with a fully documented historical chronology. DNA does not establish a definite year of arrival.

A grape can become deeply rooted in a place through a long history of cultivation and adaptation. Cultural belonging and botanical ancestry answer different questions.

Kawakami Zenbei and the deliberate breeding of Muscat Bailey A

A second major line of development leads to Niigata. Kawakami Zenbei founded Iwanohara there in 1890. According to the winery, he linked winegrowing with a desire to create new economic opportunities for his home region, shaped by snow and difficult harvests. Imported vines alone did not solve local problems. From 1922, he therefore focused on breeding varieties better suited to local conditions.

Muscat Bailey A resulted from a 1927 cross of Bailey as the female parent and Muscat Hamburg as the male parent. Bailey is an American-derived hybrid variety; Muscat Hamburg belongs to Vitis vinifera. Muscat Bailey A is consequently a deliberately bred Japanese variety with interspecific ancestry, rather than an ancient native wild vine.

Iwanohara describes the variety as relatively disease-resistant and productive. Kawakami distributed young vines to other growers, extending his work beyond his own estate. Black Queen is another variety he created. These names reflect a practical question that still helps explain Japanese winegrowing: which vine can reliably produce healthy grapes in a particular place? The answer may be an old regional variety, a deliberate cross or an international variety grown in a suitable way.

From wild vines to international varieties

Other names represent deliberate crosses. Muscat Bailey A and Black Queen originated in the breeding work at Iwanohara: both have Bailey as their mother, but different fathers. Yama Sauvignon resulted from Japanese yama-budō and Cabernet Sauvignon. Yamasachi, in turn, has Kiyomi and yama-budō as its parents. Similar names should not obscure these distinct pedigrees.

International varieties add to this range. Château Mercian lists Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc among the varieties at Jyonohira in Yamanashi. Research in Hokkaidō documents Pinot Noir and also describes trials or cultivation initiatives with Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot. Such examples answer the question of what is grown in particular places. They do not establish a single “Japanese flavour” for these varieties.