Grace Wine Hishiyama Vineyard Koshu 2023
£22.75
The wine
Layered aromas of lemon and lime are complemented by acacia, coriander and cumin with flinty mineral notes. Bone dry and smooth on the palate, with ample acidity enveloping the citrus fruit through to a deliciously fresh and mineral finish.
Hishiyama is a single vineyard and the most highly regarded site Grace farm, and the wine is the estate's clearest statement about Koshu. Winemaker Ayana Misawa trained in Bordeaux before returning to the family estate, and her work has done more than anything to establish that Japan can make white wine of international standing. At 11.5 per cent this is genuinely light, which is the variety rather than a choice.
The producer
Grace Wine
View all Grace Wine winesGrace Wine was established in 1923 in Yamanashi Prefecture, the birthplace of the Japanese wine industry, in the shadow of Mount Fuji.
The estate has done more than any other to prove that Japan can make serious wine. Committed to the belief that quality is made in the vineyard, they were the first in the country to research and introduce European training and pruning methods, bringing in long cordon training and Vertical Shoot Positioning in 1990. Japanese viticulture had traditionally used overhead pergolas to cope with the humidity of the summer rainy season, and moving to vertical trellising was a genuine departure. Since 2016 the vineyards have been farmed organically.
Koshu is the grape, and it is unlike anything else. A pink-skinned variety with a thousand years of history in Japan, DNA analysis has shown it to be roughly three-quarters Vitis vinifera with a wild Asian component, and it probably arrived along the Silk Road. Winemaker Ayana Misawa trained in Bordeaux and has made Grace the reference for it.
