Discover Japan’s natural wine pioneers

Ahead of RAW WINE’s first ever fair in Japan - RAW WINE Tokyo on 12th and 13th May 2024 - we had the opportunity to speak with winemakers Hirotake Ooka of La Grande Colline, Takahiko Soga of Domaine Takahiko and Yoshitada Katsuki of Katsuki Wines, as well as wine consultant Hiro Hagino, who founded the natural wine initiative, Goshu-vin-cho.

From insights into Japan’s winemaking regions and history, to the unique challenges of producing wine in a subtropical climate, hear from some of the pioneers leading the charge on Japan’s natural wine evolution.

Japan’s wine producing regions

Japan has four main wine producing regions: Yamagata, Nagano, Yamanashi, and Hokkaido; with climate ranging from subarctic in the north, and subtropical in the south. Yamagata, Nagano and Yamanashi are all situated on Japan’s main island of Honshu, with Yamagata at a lower altitude to the north of the island, Nagano sitting much higher in the centre and Yamanashi - the country’s most prolific wine producing region - just south of centre.

Hokkaido is Japan's northernmost island, where Domaine Takahiko is based. Takahiko Soga runs the winery in the town of Yoichi after growing up in a winemaking family - his parents run the Obuse Winery in Nagano. Takahiko trained as an oenologist and microbiologist in Tokyo, before heading further north to manage the farm at Coco Farm Winery in Tochigi, and visiting producers around the world. He was particularly inspired by his visits to Jura and France.

Right now, Takahiko makes wine from 2.7 hectares of vines, but has planted 4.6 more in the last couple of years. He describes how, where he’s based, “the soil is organic clay and a little basalt. It’s a very cool climate region, with a majority of the landscape being forested. We’re at around 60m above sea level.” Drawing from his experiences in Europe, Takahiko enthuses that “Burgundy is all about terroir - it can only be made in Burgundy because of its unique climate. Hokkaido presents a very similar possibility - I want to make this region the Burgundy of Japan.” He focuses on making wine from Pinot Noir, because he feels it’s the best grape to express the terroir, which is rich in dashi, umami character.

Outside of the country’s major wine producing regions, Hirotake Ooka makes wine in Okayama, western Japan. Originally from Tokyo, Hirotake first pursued a career in chemistry. During a trip to France, he fell in love with the classic wines of Bordeaux and decided to study winemaking. While there, he discovered natural wine and moved to the Rhone Valley to learn more, eventually setting up his own winery La Grande Colline - 'the big hill'. Later setting up in Okayama as well, Hirotake explains how the region is “known for growing grapes to eat, more than for winemaking. There is Muscat d'Alexandria which I use for my wines, alongside Shokoshi and Yama Budo.” Hirotake no longer makes wine under the Grand Colline label, but works as a winemaker in the Loire, alongside his project in Japan.

Producing in another lesser-known region, Yoshitada Katsuki runs the family winery Katsuki Wines in Aya, Miyazaki, on the island of Kyushu in southwestern Japan. Like Hirotake, Yoshitada spent time travelling the world before returning to Japan to make wine. For over a decade, he explored New Zealand and Germany, and fell in love with the community-centric wine culture that he discovered on his travels. Wanting to recreate this idyllic culture back home in Aya, Yoshitada now focuses on grape varieties well suited to the region’s challenging climate, working entirely without pesticides, herbicides and chemicals.

Yoshitada describes Aya as “a mountainous region, with mountains and volcanoes covering 80% of its 10,000 hectares. We sit at around 150m above sea level,” a normal altitude for the area. It’s covered in forests and is abundant with nature. The town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the Katsuki winery sits in the middle of the reserve. “The area is quite unique and there’s a lot of volcanic ash in the soil,” Yoshitada shares. But with high rainfall, the climate can be challenging for making wine.

Winemaking history

While Japan has a long history of producing grapes for consumption, its winemaking history is comparatively short - particularly with global wine production being traced as far back as 6,000 BC.

Hiro Hagino, a wine consultant from Osaka who works with restaurants and importers after being an importer himself for 25 years, explains that Mercien, the biggest wine company in Japan, was founded in the late 1800s. “They started Japan’s winemaking tradition,” Hiro continues, “Until around 2000, there were many large and mid-scale wineries, but now we have more small, independent wineries coming through.”

Yoshitada Katsuki describes how his region in particular, Miyazaki, has around 70 years of grape growing history: “Someone planted grapes in a rice paddy after World War Two. The first winery here was established in 1993. Now we have 6 wineries.” In Yoichi, Takahiko Soga shares how his was only the second winery in his town, which was founded in 2010. The one that came before was founded in 1984, producing classical, ‘souvenir’ wines - a term used in Japan to describe wines bought not with the intention of drinking, but for gifting to others as a luxury item. “The history is quite short, but we now have around 20 wineries in this town, so it’s a rapidly growing region. This is happening throughout Japan. Especially Nagano and Hokkaido,” Takahiko says.

Exploring Japan’s most prominent grapes, Yoshitada shares that, “Most of the grapes we grow are Japanese table grapes - around 80-90% of them. Because I learned winemaking in New Zealand, the first thing I wanted to do was grow Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Gewurztraminer. I did, but because of the humidity and rainfall, it was very hard to grow these grapes. Business-wise, it’s not realistic to keep a business going. So now I grow Japanese varieties - around 40 different kinds.”

But even this came with a steep learning curve, with table grapes not historically being used for wine production. Yoshitada continues, “I had to find out for myself what works in these conditions. I identified that Chardonnay and Merlot work well, as well as Regent, Niagara, Portland and two Japanese table grape varieties. They resist disease and produce a lot of bunches.”

Unique climatic challenges

It seems there are a number of reasons for Japan’s late adoption of winemaking, with the climate posing a particular challenge. “It isn’t suitable for growing grapes or producing wine, as it’s a semi-tropical climate. We have so much rainfall,” Yoshitada describes. Hiro Hagino expands on this, citing global warming as a growing threat: “Humidity and temperature have been rising a lot. Summer in 2023 was really tough, and it’s getting harder.”

Thankfully, there are winemakers rising to the challenge - not just to make wine in this climate, but to make natural and low intervention organic wine. Yoshitada is one of them. “It’s not been easy,” he admits, “I could only produce a tiny amount of grapes at first and I still lose a lot of grapes, but pesticide-free cultivation transforms the vineyard to a place with lots of wildlife, flowers and plants coexisting in harmony. Because we spend the time on it, we can keep the quality high.”

Hirotake Ooka also spends a lot of time working in the vineyards to cultivate his organic grapes. “To me, it’s mandatory!” he enthuses. “This is the reason I use Japanese grape varieties, as they've adapted to this climate. When I worked in the Rhone Valley, it was a completely different situation, and to grow European grapes in Japan is extremely difficult. I think the key to grow organically in Japan is to cultivate local grapes.”

One growing method that’s common in Japan - and other countries with challenging climates - is covering the vineyards with plastic to protect the vines from heavy rainfall and, in some regions, even typhoons. However, the idea of using plastic doesn’t appeal to everyone. Hirotake adds, “Personally, I am against it. That’s why I chose the varieties that are more resistant.”

For Takahiko Soga, who’s also faced with humidity in his region, diseases such as botrytis and downy mildew can be rife. “We combat these by taking care of the fields,” he explains, “with minimal use of copper spray - with similar limits to biodynamic agriculture, no more than 3kg of copper per hectare - and no herbicides or pesticides.” In his opinion, this approach is better suited to Japan’s grapes and terroir: “We eat a lot of fish and our wines tend to be softer. With fining, filtering and sulfites, you lose a lot of the delicate flavours. Wine from this region is better without all that processing - it has more purity, elegance and softness.”

As a result of the challenges faced by winemakers in Japan, wine is seen as more of a luxury product, than a part of everyday life - like it is in Europe. Yoshitada Katsuki says, “We can’t make wine cheap here because of the climate. People dream of a wine culture like Germany or France, but it’s only possible there because of the conditions. We have to work twice as hard, so the price goes up.” In order to reduce barriers between consumers and wine, particularly natural wine, he urges, “We need more education. We are making wine in a totally different climate and we have to discuss this and educate the consumer about what it is we’re doing.”

Growing natural wine scene

Despite its short winemaking history, there’s already a burgeoning natural wine movement in Japan. Hiro Hagino describes how natural wine is particularly popular amongst younger generations, and how a lot of restaurants and bars have started including these wines on their lists as a result. “It’s not completely mainstream yet,” Hiro adds, “but it's up and coming.”

Hiro himself is playing a central role in the development of this movement, introducing an initiative called Goshu-vin-cho in 2020, inspired by the Japanese tradition of Goshu-in-cho. When visiting temples or shrines, people will take a dedicated notebook for collecting each destination’s unique stamps. This tradition is particularly popular among older generations, but is having a resurgence amongst young people in Japan.

Goshu-vin-cho, then, is a way of informing consumers about restaurants and bars across Japan that serve natural, low intervention organic and biodynamic wine. “You have a Gochu-vin-cho notebook and take it with you to a restaurant or bar, and they will add a stamp or a little drawing to your book. It becomes a record of all the places you’ve visited, like a collection,” Hiro explains. But it’s not just about collecting the stamps, it’s also a medium for connecting people.

The evolution of the natural wine scene is echoed by Hirotake Ooka, who describes how, “When I started making wine 20 years ago, natural wine was a very niche market. Nowadays, young people drink a lot of natural wines.” Young producers are also playing their part in the popularisation of natural wine in Japan, following in the footsteps of the country's pioneers. Bruce Gutlove of Coco Farm Winery is one such pioneer, inviting young winemakers to work with him and learn from them.

Yoshitada Katsuki describes how many of these visitors now have their own wineries. “What Bruce is doing, I’m also doing. We get a lot of young people visiting us and asking for work, so I show them how to grow grapes and produce low intervention wines,” he adds, “Hopefully, we will see more and more of these independent winemakers coming through and the natural wine scene in Japan will grow.” Hiro cites Beau Paysage and Domaine Takahiko as equal pioneers: “I think they were the first generation of Japanese natural winemakers, and now it’s moving onto the second generation. Things have evolved a lot and I’m excited to see what the future brings.”

Discover natural wine in Japan

RAW WINE comes to Tokyo for its first ever fair in Japan on Sunday 12th and Monday 13th May 2024, at B&C Hall in Shinagawa City. After building a loyal following around the world, with fairs taking place in Los Angeles, New York City, Montréal, Toronto, London, Paris, Copenhagen and Berlin, RAW WINE will bring its global community of growers and makers together for a two-day celebration with Tokyo’s fairgoers.

RAW WINE founder Isabelle Legeron MW shares, “After years in the making, I’m really excited to be finally making RAW WINE Tokyo happen! We look forward to being able to share all these brilliant natural, low intervention organic and biodynamic wine and other drinks with the Japanese community - and we’re thrilled to be joined by some great domestic producers.”

With tickets now sold out, we're encouraged to know that the local community is just as ready for the fair as we are.

Find out more about the fair and explore the producers pouring their drinks.