Welcome to Koshu.org

Official home of The Koshu Wine Project and Shizen Koshu Wine

The wine industry’s top winemakers, viticulturists and visionaries have created Japan’s first world-class wine, revitalized Japanese agriculture, and sparked a new industry where economic success and environmental sustainability are intertwined. The Shizen (Japanese for “natural”) Collection is a set of wines from The Koshu Wine Project: redefining winemaking and viticulture in Japan by creating fine wines to match Asian cuisine.

The Shizen Collection

• The Shizen Collection is made using unique Japanese grapes varietals: Koshu (indigenous to Japan) and Zenkoji (originally from China).
• The Shizen Collection is enjoying wide circulation in the United States and is Japan's first ever wine export to the European Union.
• Created by renowned winemaker, Denis Dubourdieu, the refreshing style of Shizen wines are the ideal complement to the vast spectrum and delicate flavors of Asian cuisine.
• Shizen wines are made using natural processes. The grapes are grown in vineyards that prioritize sustainability in step with modern viticulture practices to achieve the highest quality of fruit.

Koshu Timeline

• In 2004 the University of California, Davis announced that Koshu is a vitis vinefera varietal, a true wine grape like Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.
• In the fall of 2004, the first vintage of Cuvee Denis Dubourdieu is created. Only 200 cases were released with only a few dozen bottles available internationally.
• In 2005, we increased our production to 5000 cases of Koshu Cuvee Denis Dubourdieu and imported 700 cases to the United States.
• In 2007, the 2006 Shizen Collection was released with three new labels - Shizen Koshu Reserve, Shizen Rose and Shizen Zenkoji.
• In December 2007 Shizen Wines were approved as the first Japan wines to be imported into the EU.
• Robert Parker praised each vintage of Shizen wine, including the Shizen 2007 vintage on a trip to Tokyo in May 2008. Shizen Cuvee Denis Dubourdieu remains the only Asian wine reviewed by Robert Parker.

“...Koshu had been cultivated in Japan since 1300, and DNA studies have shown the variety has vitis vinifera origins. Traditional Koshu has been made both sweet and bitter (like Gewürztraminer, it has tannin in the skins). Dubourdieu decided to minimize skin contact, block any malolactic, ferment at very low temperatures, and to total dryness, then age the wine only in stainless steel, but on its fine lees.”

“The 2004, the debut vintage of this modern-styled Koshu, is very promising. Very aromatic, even exotic, the wine is very light-bodied, but has considerable personality, and no doubt flexibility with multiple types of cuisine.”

“Could this be the first dry white wine from Japan to have an international marketplace? I think so.... perhaps the Japanese have finally found their great white hope.”

The tasting notes and comments of Robert Parker

Check out our media center to see vineyards, stories, and press coverage related to The Koshu Wine Project.