Grace Winery was founded in 1923, in the Katsunuma province, the home of the Japanese wine industry. They were the first to research and introduce European training and pruning techniques, such as using long cordon training and 'vertical shoot positioning' in 1990, because they are dedicated to the idea that great wine is made in the vineyard.
Modern winemaking techniques are used to preserve the delicate qualities of this distinctive and intriguing grape variety.
Shigekazu Misawa, a fourth-generation successor to Chotaro Misawa, is in charge of running this family-owned winery, and Ayana is in charge of winemaking. Ayana has completed post-graduate work in vine physiology at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, after initially studying enology and viticulture at the Institute of Enology and Viticulture in Yamanishi, then moving on to the Faculty of Enology at the University of Bordeaux.
After receiving her training, she has worked at some of the most renowned vineyards in the world, including those in South Africa, Mendoza, Chile, and New Zealand. She has also spent time in Margaret River, Australia, and Burgundy, France.
The primary winery, which is still in Katsunuma, specialises in producing koshu. The family has focused their efforts on increasing grape output since 1990.
The long cordon training approach, which helps to manage yields while concentrating tastes and sugars to counteract the high acidity that this variety naturally has, has replaced traditional trellis pruning.
Delightful notes of green pear and salinity combined with a delicate and mineral flavour and a long, steely and salivating finish, reminiscent of good white Graves
