Kōshū! Finally! It took a couple of
years to give this indigenous grape variety from Japan the space on
this wine blog which it doubtlessly deserves. For all you guys who
aren't aware of Koshu - here a super brief introduction at first: Kōshū
is a white – well, actually on the surface rather light purpul'ish
looking – vitis vinifera variety from Japan. It can be traced back
all the way to the 9th/10th century. However,
like so many other "things" in Japan its actual revival took place
in the second half of the 19th century when the first
professional wineries were established in Yamanashi province. Today,
most Kōshū grapes are cultivated on volcanic soils (many vineyards
lie on the foothills of Mount Fuji) in this eastern Japanese
province. The predominant training system for Kōshū is pergola.
Today's Private Reserve Kōshū 2014 from Grace Winery was produced of grapes which were cultivated in the cool and relatively dry Hishiyama area of Katsunuma in Yamanashi province. Fermentation and maturation for this selection wine took place in stainless tanks. Enough of boring blather, let's have some of it ...
