2020

The warm winter gave way to spring and budburst went well. With good rainfall and plenty of sunshine, flowering and fruit set went well. The rainy season brought long rains and lack of sunshine, slowing down the growth of the grapes, but with proper pest control and rain shade application, only minor damages were sustained. Summer came following the end of the rainy season, bringing fine weather, seeming to compensate for the earlier lack of sunshine. The delayed ripening of the grapes gradually recovered, with the start of Koshu harvest on par with previous years. Autumn rains in September and Typhoon no. 14 in October put us on high alert until the latter half of harvest. However, with the management of grapes to suitable ripeness, while removing infected berries, we were able to gather healthy grapes for vinification.

2019

Vine growth went smoothly from April to June, with little rain and plenty of sunlight. In other parts of the Yamanashi prefecture, there were rainy days in July, and August was cloudy, but the influence on Misawa Vineyard was limited, and impact on grapes was minimized via proper management. In September, the lingering summer heat was scorching, and fine weather persisted, enabling the slowed maturity period due to the late arrival of summer to catch up. Record typhoons and heavy rains struck the Japanese archipelago from mid- to late October, but fortunately damage was modest, and we were able to wait for proper ripening before harvest. By taking care of our vineyards meticulously up to harvest, we were able to enter harvest in the best possible conditions. Acidity levels were generally high for the 2019 vintage, and the resulting wines were tight with tension.

2018

The growing season (April-June) was light in rain with plenty of sunshine, advancing growth for about one week compared to the normal year. Coupled with little disease pressure, Chardonnay flowered in early June. Moderate rainfall and fine weather continued, bringing about véraison in mid- and late July, followed by an earlier than usual harvest. The good weather in the first half of the harvest enabled us to obtain the same yield as normal, even though during second half, grape picking had to be done between rains.

2017

Unprecedentedly low rainfall and fine weather taking turns in early summer led to sound and full canopy growth, with narrower-than-usual nodes between shoots and few rainfall-borne diseases. On the other hand, such extreme low precipitation also affected flowering and fruit set, resulting in natural yield limitation, one of the major characteristics of 2017.
Even during the rainy season which followed, the amount of precipitation was only half of the normal year, a condition that gave high hopes for exceptional quality.

In late August, the summer skies opened up and the autumn rain front remained subdued even into September. This fine weather continued until early October, but from mid-October the area was hit by the autumn rain that moved down south later than usual, and two typhoons.
Despite this, the vintage took advantage of the previous favourable weather conditions and by pinpointing the timing of ripening and harvesting at the right time, we were able to harvest grapes that expressed the characteristics of the 2017 vintage.
The result is a single vintage wine that will age well for a long time, with tight acidity and concentrated fruit that are indicative of the vintage characters.