Grapes
Varieties and their character — where they grow and the wines made from them. 177 entries.
- Aki Queen
- Aki Queen
- Albariño
- Albariño (in Japan)Cave d'Occi's pioneering Niigata plantings established Albariño as Japan's most successful Iberian variety — the maritime climate match works
- Aligoté
- Aligoté
- Aramon
- Aramon
- Auxerrois
- Auxerrois
- BaileyThe American hybrid Kawakami imported in 1898 — parent of Muscat Bailey A and Black Queen, anchor of Japanese hybrid breeding
- Barbera
- Barbera
- Black QueenKawakami’s deep-color cross — acid, structure, and the workhorse half of Japanese red blends
- Blauer Portugieser
- Blauer Portugieser
- Blaufränkisch
- Brancellao
- Brancellao
- Cabernet Franc
- Cabernet Sauvignon
- Cabernet Sauvignon (in Japan)A late-ripener still finding its Japanese terroir — Yamanashi premium estates and Nagano's Tenryū valley produce the best Japanese Cabernet, while Hokkaido remains too cool
- Caladoc
- Caladoc
- Campbell Early (in Japan)The Tohoku and Hokkaido red workhorse — historical bulk grape, increasingly given serious treatment
- Carignan
- Carménère
- Carménère
- Cayuga
- Cayuga
- Caíño
- Caíño
- Chambourcin
- Chambourcin
- ChardonnayThe world's most versatile white grape
- Chardonnay (in Japan)The white workhorse of Japanese serious wine — Hokkaido and Nagano leading, Coco Farm’s long specialism
- Chenin Blanc
- Cinsault
- Concord (in Japan)The American hybrid that established 19th-century Japanese viticulture — historical workhorse, contemporary niche
- Delaware
- Delaware
- Delaware (in Japan)The American table grape that became Japan’s natural-wine breakout
- Dolcetto
- Dolcetto
- Dornfelder
- Dornfelder
- Duras
- Duras
- Espadeiro
- Espadeiro
- Fiano
- Fiano
- Friulano
- Friulano
- Frontenac
- Frontenac
- Frühroter Veltliner
- Frühroter Veltliner
- Gamay
- Garganega
- Garganega
- Gewürztraminer
- Gewürztraminer (in Japan)The Alsatian aromatic that found a small but credible foothold in Hokkaido
- Godello
- Godello
- Grenache
- Grenache Blanc
- Grenache Gris
- Grolleau
- Grolleau
- Grüner Veltliner
- Grüner Veltliner
- Jacquère
- Jacquère
- Kai Blanc (甲斐ブラン)Yamanashi’s pair to Kai Noir — a 1990s white cross of Koshu Sanjaku and Pinot Blanc, designed for elegant dry whites
- Kai Noir (甲斐ノワール)Yamanashi’s 1990s red cross — Black Queen × Cabernet Sauvignon, designed to produce serious Japanese reds
- Kerner
- Kerner
- Kerner (in Japan)A German cross that found its second home on Hokkaido’s volcanic slopes
- KoshuJapan’s ancient grape — a thousand years of cultivation, a decade of international recognition
- Koshu Sanjaku (甲州三尺)A 19th-century Yamanashi cross — one of Koshu's table-grape relatives, occasionally vinified but more often eaten fresh
- Koshu Tanino (甲州谷野)A pre-WWII Yamanashi cross of Yamabudou and Koshu — historical curiosity with small but persistent contemporary plantings
- Lledoner Pelut
- Lledoner Pelut
- Loureiro
- Loureiro
- Macabeo
- Malbec
- Marsanne
- Maréchal Foch
- Maréchal Foch
- Mauzac
- Mauzac
- Melon de Bourgogne
- Melon de Bourgogne
- Mencía
- Mencía
- Merlot
- Merlot (in Japan)Kikyōgahara’s breakthrough — and the variety that proved Japan could ripen Bordeaux
- Mondeuse
- Mondeuse
- Mont Blanc (モンブラン)A 1962 Yamanashi Prefecture Experiment Station cross — Koshu Sanjaku × Müller-Thurgau, intended as a Koshu-family upgrade for table-and-wine dual use
- Montepulciano
- Montepulciano
- Mourvèdre
- Muscat
- Muscat Bailey AJapan's most widely planted red grape — a hybrid born in 1927
- Müller-Thurgau
- Müller-Thurgau
- Nayaga (ナイアガラ / 内ヤガ)A 19th-century Concord-family hybrid, planted in Hokkaido and northern Honshū as a cold-tolerant white — the workhorse alongside its better-known sibling Niagara
- Niagara
- Niagara
- Niagara (in Japan)The white workhorse of Hokkaido and Tohoku — historical American hybrid, contemporary natural-wine canvas
- Palomino
- Palomino
- País
- País
- Petit Manseng
- Petit Manseng
- Petit Verdot
- Petit Verdot
- Petit Verdot (in Japan)A late-ripening Bordeaux blender that has found a niche in Yamanashi premium reds — Mercian, Grace, and a handful of small estates produce notable single-variety Petit Verdot
- Pineau d'Aunis
- Pineau d'Aunis
- Pinot Blanc
- Pinot Gris
- Pinot Gris (in Japan)The Hokkaido textural white — Domaine Mont’s flagship variety, expressed as Dom Gris in skin-contact form
- Pinot MeunierChampagne's most site-specific grape — and its most misread
- Pinot NoirBurgundy's benchmark — and Champagne's structural backbone
- Pinot Noir (in Japan)The variety that defined Hokkaido — lean, fragrant, dashi-driven, with a transparency rare in any wine country
- Poulsard
- Poulsard
- Riesling
- Riesling (in Japan)Hokkaido’s emerging aromatic white — German-Alsatian-style plantings finding their feet in Sorachi and Yoichi
- Roter Veltliner
- Roter Veltliner
- Roussanne
- Roussanne
- Ryūgan (龍眼)Nagano’s indigenous white — the Zenkōji-shu grape, cultivated for centuries near Zenkōji Temple
- Sagrantino
- Sagrantino
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Sauvignon Blanc (in Japan)The aromatic white that has found a home in Hokkaido and high-elevation Nagano
- Savagnin
- Scheurebe
- Scheurebe
- Seibel 9110 (in Japan)A French hybrid white widely planted in cool-region Japan during the 20th century — slowly being replaced by vinifera but still meaningful in older vineyards
- Seyval Blanc
- Seyval Blanc
- Sousón
- Sousón
- Steuben (in Japan)A 20th-century American hybrid that found a niche role in Tohoku and Hokkaido — fortified, late-harvest, and rosé production
- Sylvaner
- Syrah
- Sémillon
- Tannat
- Tannat
- Tannat (in Japan)A high-tannin Madiran/Uruguay variety experimentally planted in Hokkaido and Iwate — an emerging cool-climate Tannat profile that suggests promise
- Terret Blanc
- Terret Blanc
- Trebbiano
- Trebbiano
- Treixadura
- Treixadura
- Trousseau
- Trousseau
- Vermentino
- Vermentino
- Vidal
- Vidal
- Viognier
- Xarel·lo
- Xarel·lo
- Yama-SauvignonA modern Japanese cross — Yamabudou’s wild acidity meets Cabernet Sauvignon’s frame
- YamabudouThe wild native vine — Vitis coignetiae, the genetic backbone of indigenous Japanese reds
- Zweigelt
- Zweigelt (in Japan)The Austrian cross that thrives in Hokkaido — vibrant cherry-fruited reds with cold-climate freshness