The Flying Column: Japan

Japan was Asia’s first true market for fine wine and the country has been drastically developing and improving its own wine industry.

HISTORY:

Japan has been producing wines since 1875, with the first winery in Katsunuma, Yamanashi prefecture. The industry battled a slow start due to strict regulations and the nationwide issue of farmland ownership.

These roadblocks hindered local winemakers form operating effectively and producing commercially viable wines initially. Larger corporate groups where therefore reluctant to enter the wine industry.

Urbanization however hit Japan much like other nations, leading to a decline in next-generation farmers. This, ironically, opened the door for the Japanese wine industry as in 2003 the government put in place regulations whereby specially zoned farmland was made available to large entities or corporate structures for lease purposes only.

Many of these farmlands were located in winemaking zones such as Yamanashi and Nagano. In 2009 the government made further amendments opening up borders to allow for any corporate entities to lease farming land in Japan.

This significance here for the wine industry was that vineyards were able to acquire particular blocks of land based on viticultural analysis and were no longer tied to age old family titles and restrictions.
VARIETIES:

With this rapid expansion and development, Japan is now home to over 50 varieties including European classics, but also most notably local grapes. Japan is best recognized for three key varietals: Koshu, Muscat Bailey-A and Campbell Early.

Koshu is a light pink skinned, aromatic white wine varietal. Muscat Bailey-A is a hybrid between Bailey and Muscat Hamburg, and produces a medium body red wine. Finally, Campbell Early is thick skinned and produces a medium body red wine.

The local success of these varietals has caught the attention of highly renowned critics and journalists, including the likes of Jancis Robinson MW, who has said, “Japanese varietals lack brashness” and “shows more delicacy” and “more purity” and “clearly go well with the calmer regions of the Japanese gastronomical landscape.”

WINEMAKING CHALLENGES:

Like all evolving viticulture zones, and particularly those in Asia, Japan faces many challenges including: high humidity, high average rainfall, enriched soil composition and few sunshine hours. High humidity is problematic to most vineyards because it brings the increased risk of powdery mildew and Botrytis bunch rot. Japan experiences high average tropical rainfall and monsoon winds, particularly during the growing season, which knock around the canopy. This also creates lots of waterlogging or excessive vigour in the vines.

Although most of the soil in Japan is incredibly rich in nitrogen and fertile, it creates high yielding vines with a disproportionate leaf to fruit ratio. Further to that, the soils are considered quite acidic, so lots of preparation for the soil needs to be conducted prior to planting, including chips in the soil to balance out the acid levels. Most of Japan’s landscape and viticulture areas receive fairly low amount of sunshine hours, which reduces the amount of photosynthesis and also ripening time for the grapes on the vines.

They have tried to counter this with a variety of measures, including the type of trellis that they use, like the pagoda system method, improving vertical shoot systems, and utilizing aspects of their slopes. Due to the high rainfall and the limited amount of sunshine, winemakers are struggling to achieve high sugar levels in order to produce enough alcohol and also phenological flavour profiles in the wines.

To counter some of the measures, winemakers have had to use chaptalization of the must or juice post-harvest. Alternatively, they have had to add other compounds like artificial grape tannins in the ferments to provide structure and length.

REGIONS:

Over the years, Japan has expanded its viticulture landmass and is now recognised for four key wine regions. Yamanashi is the home of both Japanese winemaking and the Koshu varietal.

Located on the main island of Honshu, vines here cover 4,000 km² and experience incredibly high rainfall and fairly warm temperatures. Further West is Nagano where high elevation, cool nights and warm sunshine days, are perfect for Burgundian varieties like Chardonnay.

The low annual precipitation frequent sunny days create a relatively high sugar content in the grapes and produces great wine. Yamagata, on the island of Honshu, is characterised by long, hot humid summers and long snowy winters. Twelve wineries currently operate in this region, which covers across 9,300 km².

The largest of Japan’s viticulture area is Hokkaido, which covers 83,000 km². It is considered the opposite to its southern counterparts, because its rainfall is much higher and the average temperature is much lower. Currently, Hokkaido houses a lot of sake and whisky producers, but grape growing is on the rise.

OUTLOOK:

Japan’s domestic production of wine is undoubtedly increasing. Traditionally, Japan was known for its importation of fine French Burgundy as well as premium Australian wines.

Today’s wine producers, and increasing locally consumers, are focused on key varietals produced domestically. Exportation of Japanese wine is also increasing, with the Koshu varietal accounting for much of this success. Spearheading this support and international presence is a group called Koshu of Japan (KOJ), which is composed of 15 winemakers who travel the world promoting Koshu to the global markets.

Many international hotels and acclaimed restaurants have begun listing Japanese wines, recognising the care and craft behind the product.

With Japan’s long-standing history, culture and attention to detail, it is clear that Japanese wines have evolved tremendously over the last 20 years. It is incredibly exciting to see a country as sophisticated as Japan grow and match their wine drinking habits with their clearly strong winemaking skills.