Koshu Hishiyama Private Reserve 2023 Grace Winery, Yamanashi
With depth on the nose, the Koshu Hishiyama Private Reserve has melon but also peach, and minerality from the complex granite soils found in the Hishiyama district. The remarkable freshness and elegance of the Koshu is present but with a crisp length with gorgeous mouth watering acidity - this leans towards a classy Albariño or Cru Chablis.
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.".
The 2015 vintage won Platinum: Best White Asian wine over £15 in the 2016 Decanter awards:
"95/100 An elegant and zesty citrus nose with a touch of pineapple sorbet. Intensity of mouthfeel, bursting with jasmin flowers, lime, grapefruit and green tea. This is a wine with substance and personality, confidently textured from the lees contact, with a pleasurable persistent fresh finish."
Grace Winery was established in 1923, in the Katsunuma province, the birthplace of the Japanese wine industry. Committed to the belief that great wine is made in the vineyard, they were the first to research and introduce European training and pruning methods introducing such as using long cordon training and Vertical Shoot Positioning in 1990. The wines are made in a modern way to retain the delicate characteristics of this individual and exciting grape variety.
This family-owned winery established by Chotaro Misawa is now run by his fourth-generation successor Shigekazu Misawa, whose daughter Ayana is in charge of winemaking. Ayana has studied winemaking on at least three continents—first at the Institute of Enology and Viticulture in Yamanishi, next at the Faculty of Enology of the University of Bordeaux, and finally doing post-graduate work in vine physiology at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University. Following her training, she has spent time making wine at some of the world’s best-known wineries in South Africa, Mendoza, Chile, and New Zealand, in addition to spending time in Margaret River in Australia and Burgundy in France.
The main-winery is still in Katsunuma and produces primarily Koshu. Since 1990 the family has been concentrating its efforts on improvements in grape production.
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.
