Grace Shugoro NV Fortified

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.

This is a fortified wine made from the indigenous Japanese varieties Muscat Bailey A and Koshu, with grape spirit added during fermentation. This is a traditional family wine, first made by Kazuo Misawa, our third generation owner. From the first wine up to the present day, the wine made through the use of solera system, where new wines constantly added to replenish the wines that are being drawn. It is characterised by depth of flavour which came from over four years of maturation in barrels, and natural sweetness from the grapes. After fortification, the wine is matured in French oak barrels for more than 4 years in Solera system.

The writer Shugoro Yamamoto once praised highly, “It’s a wine that doesn’t taste like any of the Japanese grape wines I’ve ever had”. Since then, the wine became his longtime favourite. The wine is thus named “Vin of Shugoro” or “Shugoro’s Wine”. The lettering on the label is his autograph. This is Grace Wine’s only sweet wine.