On August 28, Suntory held a press conference at Suntory Tomi no Oka Winery in Kai City, Yamanashi Prefecture, to introduce its initiatives at the winery.
The winery has a long history, first pioneered in 1909 as Tomi Noen, then taken over by Suntory in 1936, and has become one of the company’s representative wineries. The winery has about 50 plots of its own vineyards on a hilltop overlooking Mount Fuji and the Kofu Basin, where a variety of grapes are grown, including major varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Chardonnay, as well as Koshu and Bijou Noir, which are unique to Yamanashi. The vineyards are also home to a variety of other grape varieties.
Keiko Yoshio, Managing Executive Officer and General Manager of the Wine Division, introduced trends in the Japanese wine market, noting that the number of wineries in Japan has increased rapidly over the past decade and is estimated to reach 500 by 2024. The number of wineries entering their wines in domestic competitions is increasing every year, and the number of winners in international competitions is also increasing, showing the enthusiasm of winemakers and the momentum of Japanese wine, she said.
The company focuses on Koshu, a grape variety indigenous to Japan, and the winery uses a variety of methods in its pursuit of quality. According to Kohei Oyama, head viticulture engineer at Tomi no Oka Winery, the same grape variety is grown in different ways depending on the characteristics of the vineyard, and these efforts have enabled the winery to harvest grapes with a sugar content of 21 degrees, which expresses the alcohol content, acidity, and flavor concentration of the wine without supplemental sugar. The grapes are grown in different ways depending on the characteristics of the vineyard.
In recent years, the company has been growing Chardonnay in “secondary vineyard cultivation” in collaboration with the University of Yamanashi to avoid the negative effects of global warming, and has been experimenting with new varieties such as Marselan and Albariño. Sustainability-conscious efforts are also being made, such as applying carbonized prunings to the soil to increase the soil’s CO2 storage capacity, with the aim of reducing the increase in atmospheric CO2.
The know-how cultivated at the winery has also been spread to the company-managed vineyards in Yamanashi and Nagano prefectures, where the characteristics of each region are utilized to grow a rich variety of Koshu grapes with different faces, producing wines with rich individuality that bring out the best of each grape.
In September, the company began construction of a new winemaking building with 40 small-capacity tanks at an investment of approximately 700 million yen, which will be operational from September 2025, aiming to produce wines of even higher quality than before by making the most of the individual characteristics of the grapes to create different types of original wine.
On the 28th, a “Harvest Opening Ceremony” was held to pray for a good harvest and safe progress of the work. The weather was unfortunately rainy, possibly due to the effects of Typhoon No. 10, so the scheduled harvest could not be observed, but there were fields with colored grapes, and harvesting will proceed one by one.
The winery also offers a variety of tours (paid tours; reservations required) that allow visitors to see the vineyards, the cellar, and taste the wines. A free shuttle bus service is available from the south exit of Kofu Station, so why not go out and enjoy the vineyards and surrounding nature as the harvest season begins?
The “Tomi no Oka Winery Festival 2024 – Community Friendship Day” is scheduled to be held on August 31, but it may be cancelled due to the typhoon. Please check the winery’s website for the latest information in advance.
© Source travel watch
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