For decades, the phrase 'Japanese wine' drew polite nods and little else from the international trade. That era appears definitively over. Export figures released by Japan's National Tax Agency show wine shipments reached 332,000 litres in 2024, a 5.4% year-on-year increase, with Koshu — the pinkish-skinned grape that has grown in Yamanashi Prefecture for over a millennium — driving much of the momentum.
The numbers remain modest by global standards. But what Japan lacks in volume it is making up for in credibility, and at a pace that should make complacent Old World appellations take notice.
Competition Sweep
The awards circuit has been ruthlessly kind to Koshu of late. In 2024, Suntory's FROM FARM Tomi Koshu 2022 became the first Japanese wine ever to win Best in Show at the Decanter World Wine Awards — a result that sent shockwaves through the trade. Suntory followed up with Gold at the International Wine & Spirit Competition the same year.
Then in 2025, Château Mercian's Iwade Koshu Kiiroka Cuvée Ueno 2023 claimed the Gold Medal and Trophy at the International Wine Challenge with 96 points — the first time a Koshu wine has taken the IWC Trophy. Five of the seven Japanese Gold medals at the 2025 DWWA were Koshu, reinforcing that this is no longer a single-producer story.
Structure and Strategy
Japan's export push has been methodical. The 2018 labelling reform, which restricts the term 'Japanese Wine' to bottles made from 100% domestically grown grapes, brought transparency that export markets demanded. The GI Yamanashi designation, established in 2013 as Japan's first wine geographical indication, provides a quality framework modelled on European appellations, covering 42 permitted grape varieties.
On the ground, the Koshu of Japan (KOJ) organisation has held annual London trade tastings for 17 consecutive years, most recently at 67 Pall Mall. The strategy has been credibility before volume — and it appears to be paying off. All nine producers at the 2026 tasting now have UK importers, up from six of ten in 2024. Master of Wine Sarah Jane Evans, hosting this year's masterclass, described it as 'a coming of age.'
The Wider Picture
Japan's winery count has nearly doubled in a decade to close to 500, with Nagano Prefecture now boasting 88 producers alongside Yamanashi's established base. The domestic wine market stands at an estimated USD 30.2 billion, projected to reach USD 48.8 billion by 2033. Meanwhile, the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, which eliminated the 15% tariff on EU wines entering Japan in 2019, has paradoxically sharpened domestic producers' resolve to compete on quality rather than protection.
The pioneers deserve their due. Shigekazu Misawa's decision to trial vertical shoot positioning on Koshu vines in the 1990s at Grace Wine, breaking from traditional pergola training, was the viticultural turning point. Usuke Asai's introduction of sur lie winemaking at Château Mercian in 1983 defined Koshu's modern identity as a serious dry white. Without those bets, there would be no trophies to celebrate now.
Koshu will not flood export markets — Yamanashi's vineyards are finite and Japan drinks most of what it produces. But as a calling card for an increasingly sophisticated national wine industry, it is proving remarkably effective. The question is no longer whether Japan can make world-class wine. It is whether the rest of the world is paying sufficient attention.
