Local Wine History

Growing grapes in Kikyogahara

In the southern part of the Matsumoto Basin lies Kikyogahara, one of the largest grape-growing areas in Nagano, Japan. The very first hoe struck the ground of Kikyogahara in the second year of the Meiji Era, or 1869. To obtain their drinking water, developers had to dig a 30-meter well; only to find the water from it contained too much iron for drinking. Hence they had to rely on rainwater for drinking. In addition, they had to battle against the severe cold of the Nagano winters. Despite these terrible conditions, through their hard work they were successful in developing yieldable fruit orchards and grape vineyards. By the 1880's, with the guidance of the National and Prefectural Governments, Kikyogahara had become a large fruit cultivating area with the main product being grapes. Out of the over 20 kinds of grapes planted, only two survived the century of severe snow and wind: the Concord and the Niagara. These typical American species are grown in Concord, Massachusetts and near Niagara Falls in Canada, both of which have similar climates to Kikyogahara. This fact is one of the reasons that makes Kikyogahara a suitable place to grow these particular species.

As grape production increased, the wineries of the Taisho Era (1910s-1920s) advanced in producing wine with aromas typical to the American species. At the same time, modernized farming technology brought prosperity and wealth not only to local farmers but also to the local communities.

That good fortune continued for over a decade until a much severer winter with only a little snow hit Kikyogahara. After several consecutive days of temperatures below -10C (13F), grapes became stricken with "sleeping sickness", whereby only buds, but not fruit, grow. Among those troubled farmers, only the ones who had used organic fertilizers survived the disaster. After many years of dependency on chemical fertilizers, the soil had deteriorated causing grapes to become more prone to such sickness. In response to this, many farmers went back to using natural compost again. Eventually, as the earthworms and moles came back to the healthy soil, which had been fertilized with straws and grape skins leftover from the wine-making process, so did return the delicious grapes of Kikyogahara.

1927:The Establishment of the Alps Wine Company

Alps Wine was established in the second year of Showa, or 1927. At that time, wineries would only use the grapes unsold at the markets or those of which the quality was not good enough for sale. Inevitably the wines from lower quality grapes were not valued highly, and were used as a base liquor for sweeter fruit wines.
Japan's economy had stabilized much more in the 1950s when high-cost but tasty grape species, such as the seedless Delaware and Kyoho became popular. The Concord, due to its fragile skin and twig, needed extra care for transportation. As such it became less and less favored in the consumer market and became popular for use in the processing of wine and juice.
With the motto "Good Wine Comes from Good Grapes" held high, we formed the Alps Union with 15 branches and 400 enthusiastic farmers. With our own 3-level ranking system for grape quality, we sought better grapes to make better tasting wine. Despite the fact that wine made from American grapes was not very well-received at that time, our wine was rewarded at the Katsunuma Wine Contest on October 2, 1977 and has consistently won awards every year since. Wines made from the Niagara and Concord have, over the years, come to stand as the symbolic wines of Kikyogahara and Shiojiri.

Merlot

In addition to the Muscat Bailey A, some farmers started producing Merlot grapes for wine-making, and for the first time, the mass-manufacture of higher quality wines made from European grapes was made possible.

Grape Juice made from Concord

In addition to the Muscat Bailey A, some farmers started producing Merlot grapes for wine-making, and for the first time, the mass-manufacture of higher quality wines made from European grapes was made possible.

Brandy made from Labrusca

In 1984, our company was granted a license to produce brandy. We had long thought of making a brandy from Kikyogahara grapes using the same method as in making cognac that would be one of a kind in the world. By using a Marestel-brand distiller and J.J. Nadalie barrels that the company president had made himself, we began to store the just-distilled brandy waiting for its maturation. We invited supervisors from the University of Yamanashi and from the National Tax Administration's Research Institute of Brewing to advise us in making changes to aroma and taste before and after distillation. For our efforts we developed a brandy made from the Labrusca (American variety) grape which had processed out the disfavorable taste and smell characterizing that grape. It was such a success that our 11-year old brandy won an award at an International Wine Contest held in London.

Automated Wine Cellar

In response to the wine boom of 1997 and 1998, we purchased a large fully-automated wine cellar. With our energy-efficient freezers from Chubu Electric Company called "Eco-Ice" and with our computers keeping the bottled wines at 20℃ in the wine cellar, we created the ideal state-of-the-art method to store and manage the storing of wine.