Grace Koshu Kayagatake 2023

Anthony Rose wrote in The Independent: "We don't as yet see enough koshu wine in the UK, but Grace's wines are among the best." and described the Koshu Kayagatake as 'floral and smoky'.

In The Observer, David Williams reported that the koshu grape had made it into Jancis Robinson's Oxford Companion to Wine, saying of the Grace Koshu "It makes for subtle, delicate whites such as this, with its gentle pulse of citrus, white flowers and minerals.".

Made from Japan's most important indigenous grape variety: Koshu. The grapes for this wine are grown on the foothills of Mt. Kayagatake from estate managed vineyards at an altitude of 400 to 700 metres. The vines are planted in distinctively volcanic soils with good drainage, providing excellent growing conditions. The vineyard has a cool climate but also abundant sunshine, allowing the slow maturation of the grapes over a long growing season. Traditional trellis pruning has been cast aside in favour of a modern long cordon training system which helps to control yields; concentrating flavours and sugars to balance the high acidity that occurs naturally in this variety. The grapes were hand-harvested at optimum maturity. The vineyard is organically and sustainably cultivated.

The winemaking philosophy emphasises preserving the healthy state of the grapes by ensuring harvest took place at the optimum time through appropriate analysis, rapid crushing and anaerobic juice handling in order to produce clean, natural and pure wines, bringing out the potential in the fruit. Fermentation took place in stainless steel tanks at carefully controlled temperatures, to ensure the purity of the fruit and the terroir was fully expressed.