Grace Cuvée Misawa Rouge 2020

Grace Winery (Chuo Budoshu) was founded in 1923 by Chotaro Misawa in Katsunuma, Yamanashi Prefecture, the birthplace of Japan’s wine industry. The winery has a history of innovation, being one of the first to introduce modern techniques like Vertical Shoot Positioning (VSP) in 1990 to enhance grape quality. Today, the winery is run by the Misawa family, with the current winemaker being Chotaro’s great-great-granddaughter, Ayana Misawa. The winery is committed to the philosophy that great wine comes from high-quality grapes grown in exceptional vineyards. They focus on traditional Japanese craftsmanship while also implementing progressive, modern techniques to enhance quality and reflect the unique terroir of the Katsunuma region. Grace Winery is considered a benchmark for quality in the Japanese winemaking community. 

Merlot (fruitiness),Petit Verdot (spices) and Cabernet Franc (elegance) , carefully grown on the Misawa Vineyard, are each vinified in small batches, separated by lot and variety until just before bottling, and matured in French oak barrels for 15 months. The grapes are brought to the winery immediately after harvest, where they will undergo a two-stage sort process and spontaneous fermentation. After maturation, the wine is bottled without fining or filtration. The grape variety composition depends on the year’s performance, with no wines produced in years when the weather was not favourable. 

Vintage 2020
In 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 and the delayed ripening of the grapes gradually recovered. 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 us to gather healthy grapes for vinification

THE WINEFRONT

Grace Cuvée Misawa Rouge 2020 – 95 / 100 Points

Merlot (56％) Petit Verdot (25%) Cabernet Franc (19%). I’m lucky to taste a lot of rare and exotic wine, imports seem to have found me, in part by design, but also by good fortune. Anyway, the wines produced by Grace have a special place in my heart. Importer: QED
So distinctive, so fine. Plum and dark raspberry, cedar and pencils, chocolate, perfume of violets, mint and nori, with a pimento spiciness. It’s medium-bodied, distinctly saline and savoury, an umami sort of wakame character runs through it, but also a delicate blood plum and blueberry flavour. Tannin is fine and lacy, acidity has a sappy fresh tomato character, but the flavours are ripe nonetheless. The finish is bright and long, but earthy, and all up the charm and individual personality on offer is so appealing. So different, but so good.

– Gary Walsh (28 Oct 2023).