In the Shadow of Mount Fuji, Japan Is Making Incredible White Wines
New boutique wineries are taking a 130-year-old industry and its native koshu grape to the global stage.
Inside a 19th-century silk merchant’s house in Katsunuma, Japan, about 70 miles west of central Tokyo, the three Aruga brothers are pouring several white wines in their timbered tasting room. All are made at their Katsunuma Jyozo Winery under the Aruga Branca label from the country’s unique grape variety koshu, and all are delicious: One is elegant and sparkling; another fresh, bright, and lemony; a third succulent and tangy; still another savory and smoky; and a fifth barrel-fermented version is round, rich, and smooth.
About 15 years ago, when an Aruga Branca bottling won medals in a French wine competition, Bernard Magrez of famous Bordeaux château Pape Clement was so intrigued, he proposed a joint wine project that introduced koshu to France. And now third-generation winemaker Hiro Aruga, who studied and worked in Burgundy, has joined his father, Yuji, and is experimenting to create wines with even higher quality.