Koshu and Muscat Bailey A — two varieties native to Japan

Koshu, a white grape grown in Japan for centuries

Koshu is a white grape that has been cultivated in Japan since long ago. Public Japanese sources describe it as a variety that travelled from Central Asia through China, then adapted to Japan’s conditions. It has a history of being grown mainly as a table grape, yet is now recognised as a representative white-wine variety for Japanese wine.

What matters about Koshu is not only that it grows in Japan. Through a long history of cultivation, it adapted to the Japanese environment and came to be selected for winemaking as well. Public sources describe citrus-like aromas and moderate acidity, but the actual expression changes with the vineyard, vintage, winemaking method, and producer.

Muscat Bailey A, a black grape crossed in Japan

Muscat Bailey A is a black grape developed through crossing in Japan. Materials from the Ministry of Agriculture and local government describe it as a hybrid whose parents include Bailey, an American variety, and Muscat Hamburg. It is used for several styles, including red, rosé, and sparkling wine, and is central to understanding Japan’s wine grapes.

Both varieties are listed by the O.I.V., the International Organisation of Vine and Wine, as wine-grape varieties. Their registration made it possible, subject to the relevant requirements, to put their variety names on labels when exporting wine to the European Union. A variety born or established in Japan could therefore appear not only in domestic wine culture but also within an international labelling framework.

What the award table shows

The table matches the names of award-winning wines against variety names and counts the records in which a name appears. The frequent appearance of Koshu and Muscat Bailey A reflects not only award results, but also the fact that they are widely grown and made into wine in Japan, with many wines using the variety name as part of the product name. European varieties such as Chardonnay and Merlot appear in the same table, showing that Japanese wine is not made from native varieties alone.

Wines that leave their grape out of the product name are not included in this calculation. The frequency of a variety in the award table is neither a vineyard-area or production-volume statistic nor a measure of the variety’s inherent quality. Use it as a lower bound from visible wine names and as a starting point for the variety pages and individual wines.

Our reading: It is more accurate to read Koshu and Muscat Bailey A not as superior because they are native to Japan, but as varieties that suited Japanese conditions, were selected and cultivated over time, and consequently came to be used by many producers. Their native status is a clue to the accumulated relationship between place and people, not a quality ranking.