Yamanokyo Ota Winery

Yamanokyo Ota Winery is a small, community-rooted winery in the mountain village of Yamano, in the northern reaches of Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture. Founded by Yusuke Ota, who began experimenting with grape growing on reclaimed abandoned farmland in 2010, the winery secured a special winemaking license under Fukuyama City's wine special zone (tokku) system in 2015 and moved to its current site in 2017. Today the winery farms roughly 2 hectares (about 3,300 vines) across nine grape varieties, including Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Delaware, Muscat Bailey A, Marselan, and Niagara, alongside two original crossbred varieties bred for the region's climate: Fujinoyume (a Merlot x wild grape cross) and Hokuten no Shizuku (a Riesling x wild grape cross). Every step, from harvest to bottling and labeling, is done by hand in small batches. In 2023, the winery's 2021-vintage Hokuten no Shizuku and Fujinoyume were served to world leaders at the G7 Hiroshima Summit, bringing national attention to this once-obscure gorge village. Beyond winemaking, the winery runs a Sunday morning market, a guesthouse (Yamano-no-Yado Nishimoto), and a café & bar, positioning itself as a community hub for regional revitalization.