Kikyogahara
桔梗ヶ原
Japan's most celebrated terroir for Merlot — volcanic ash soils and the cool nights of the Matsumoto Basin at 700 meters produce structured, elegant reds that have earned international acclaim.
About Kikyogahara
- Producers listed
- 14
- Most wineries in
- 塩尻市
- Founded 2010 or later
- 50%
- 7 of 14 with a known founding year
Kikyogahara is a historic wine-producing area in Shiojiri City, Nagano Prefecture — the birthplace of Japanese wine culture. Situated on a gentle fluvial terrace at approximately 700 meters elevation in the Matsumoto Basin, it overlooks the Northern Alps. The volcanic ash soils and continental climate with cool nights are ideal for Merlot, which has attained world-class recognition from this appellation. Concord and Niagara grapes, long-standing local specialties, continue to be produced alongside European varieties.
Best for
Merlot, Chardonnay, Concord, Niagara
Food Pairings
Kikyogahara Merlot pairs beautifully with Shinshu apple-fed beef, wild mushroom dishes, and aged cheeses. The Chardonnay excels with fresh sushi, grilled trout, and cream-based pasta.
Winery Map of Kikyogahara
Of the Kikyogahara wineries on Vinami, we show the 14 whose locations we have verified.
Wineries by Municipality
- 塩尻市14
- Alps WineFounded 1927
- Belly Beads WineryFounded 2018
- CAVE KikyoFounded 2025
- Domaine KOSEIFounded 2019
- Hayashi FarmFounded 1919
- Inishie no Sato WineryFounded 2017
- Izutsu WineFounded 1933
- Kido WineryFounded 2004
- Shiojiri Farm (Domaine Sourire)Founded 2019
- Shiojiri Shigakukan High School WineryFounded 1943
- Sinano WineFounded 1916
- Sun Sun WineryFounded 2015
- Suntory Shiojiri WineryFounded 1936
- VOTANO WINEFounded 2012
Addresses and founding years are verified against each winery's official website and public information from local governments and industry bodies. Sources are listed on each producer's page.
Producers
アルプスワイン
Alps Wine
Founded in 1927 as Alps Grape Wine Brewery in Shiojiri, Nagano, Alps Wine is one of Japan's oldest and largest wine producers, boasting the highest output in Nagano Prefecture at around 3.5 million bottles per year. Rooted in the famed Kikyogahara wine valley—where cool alpine nights, ample sunshine, and well-drained soils create ideal conditions for Merlot and Chardonnay—the winery works with approximately 400 contracted grape-farming households under the Alps Shipping Association, supplemented since 2008 by its own estate vineyards (Alps Farm) spanning roughly 50 hectares of reclaimed fallow land in Shiojiri. The flagship Musée du Vin range, whose name means 'wine museum' in French, represents the winery's most terroir-driven expression, with five tiers of Shiojiri Merlot at its core. Alps was honored at the Japan Winery Award (JWA) 2025.
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www.alpswine.com/ベリービーズワイナリー
Belly Beads Winery
Founded in 2018 in the Souga-Seba district of Shiojiri City, Nagano — right in the Kikyogahara Wine Valley — Belly Beads Winery takes its name from the idea of connecting people 'like a circle of shining beads,' radiating out from Shiojiri, which sits at the geographic 'belly' (center) of Japan. In 2020 it joined the Ohtaki Group, a Nagano hospitality and food-service company, broadening its reach while keeping winemaking rooted in the local vineyards at roughly 780m elevation. The winery is best known for reviving and championing Shiojiri's traditional but declining Niagara and Concord vines, most notably through its early-harvest 'Niagara Green Harvest,' a dry, food-friendly white that leans into rather than masks the variety's aromatic character. The team also rehabilitates abandoned local vineyards taken over from aging farmers, and is gradually adding Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Riesling alongside its heritage plantings.
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bellybeadswinery.com/カーヴ桔梗
CAVE Kikyo
CAVE Kikyo is a micro-winery in the Hirooka-Gohara district of Shiojiri City, Nagano, opened in autumn 2025 by SHIOJIRI BASE, a company founded in 2023 by three transplants to the region: Makoto Ogawa and the husband-and-wife team of Kiichiro and Minori Hashimoto, all graduates of the Shiojiri Wine University who also grow their own wine grapes. The winery occupies part of the building that once housed the JA Shiojiri City winery (known as Kikyo no Sato Winery), which closed in 2022 after 65 years of cooperative winemaking. Holding its own small-batch liquor manufacturing license under the Kikyogahara-Matsumoto Wine Valley special zone, CAVE Kikyo completed its debut vintage — a Concord red reviving the historic 'Kikyo no Sato' name — in autumn 2025, and plans to keep working with Shiojiri's traditional Concord and Niagara grapes alongside European varieties such as Merlot grown by its founders.
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ドメーヌ コーセイ
Domaine KOSEI
Domaine KOSEI is a single-varietal Merlot winery established by Kosei Ajimura in the Kataoka district of Shiojiri City, Nagano Prefecture, within the Kikyogahara Wine Valley. Ajimura, born in 1957 in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi, graduated from Yamanashi University Graduate School in 1983 and joined Mercian (then Sanraku Ocean). After studying at the University of Bordeaux in France, he served for many years as the chief winemaker at the Katsunuma Winery where he also co-developed the acclaimed "Chateau Mercian Kikyogahara Merlot". Upon early retirement, he established Domaine KOSEI, began grape cultivation in 2016, and completed the winery in 2019. The winery cultivates only Merlot in the Kataoka district at approximately 700 meters altitude, in well-drained, moisture-retaining soil on former mulberry fields. All wines are bottled without fining, cold stabilisation, filtration, or heat treatment. The vineyards are planted with roses at their borders — roses being more susceptible to disease than vines, they serve as an early warning system for vineyard health. The inaugural red wine, "Kataoka Merlot 2019", received the Grand Gold at the Bordeaux Wine Challenge, validating Ajimura's pursuit of world-class Merlot in Shiojiri.
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domaine-kosei.com林農園
Hayashi Farm
Hayashi Farm (Hayashi Noen) is one of Japan's oldest and most historically significant wineries, founded in 1911 by Goichi Hayashi in the Kikyogahara plateau of Shiojiri, Nagano Prefecture. They began wine production in 1919 and became the first winery to introduce Merlot to the Kikyogahara region in 1951, bringing cuttings from Yamagata Prefecture and pioneering what would become Japan's most celebrated Merlot terroir. Their wines are sold under the brand name "Goichi Wine" (五一わいん), named after the founder. Situated at 700 meters elevation in the Kikyogahara appellation, the winery maintains 7 hectares of estate vineyards plus a 5-hectare farm opened in 2011 in Kakezawa, Shiojiri, and works with local contract growers. The acidic volcanic ash soil, ample sunlight, low rainfall, and large day-night temperature variation create ideal conditions for Merlot and other varieties including Chardonnay, Niagara, Ryugan (善光寺竜眼), Muscat Bailey A, and Seibel 9110. Goichi Wine's international reputation was established when Mercian's Kikyogahara Merlot 1985—made from Hayashi Farm grapes—won a Grand Gold Award at the prestigious Ljubljana International Wine Competition in 1989. The winery's own Kikyogahara Merlot went on to win Gold at the Bordeaux Challenge International du Vin in 2005. Their noble rot Chardonnay, first discovered on their estate in 1993, has also garnered international acclaim at the Ljubljana competition. The winery's philosophy is "good wine comes from good grape cultivation," and they practice an integrated approach from vine to bottle. They also produce a botrytized Chardonnay that has achieved global recognition, and a range of approachable everyday wines under the "Goichi Wine Special" and "Goichi Wine Economy" labels. The winery received Japan Winery Award (JWA) 2025 recognition.
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www.goichiwine.co.jp/いにしぇの里葡萄酒
Inishie no Sato Winery
Inishie no Sato Budoshu was founded in 2017 by Masahiro Inagaki, a former Tokyo chef who returned to his hometown of Shiojiri and trained for four years at the Shiojiri Wine University before becoming the first winery to use the city's wine special zone system. The vineyard sits in the Kitaono district at roughly 850 meters — the highest-elevation and newest grape-growing area within the Kikyogahara wine district — where a wide diurnal temperature swing preserves bright acidity and builds elegant, well-structured wines. Inagaki grows around seven to eight varieties, led by Pinot Noir, Merlot and Chardonnay alongside Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Kerner, Niagara and Muscat Bailey A, and states his goal plainly: to make wine good enough that a drinker would pick it over an imported bottle at the same price. His Muscat Bailey A cuvee 'Fluffy' 2023 won a gold medal at the Japan Wine Competition in 2024. The wines are sold direct, through partner shops, and at Inagaki's own restaurant, Brasserie no de Vin, near Shiojiri Station, where he pairs his cooking background directly with his own bottles.
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inishe-no-sato.com/
Frequently Asked Questions
- What makes Kikyogahara wines special?
- Kikyogahara's volcanic ash soils, 700-metre elevation, and strong diurnal temperature swings create Merlot with exceptional depth, fine-grained tannins, and natural acidity — a combination rarely achieved at this quality level outside top Bordeaux appellations.
- What grape varieties are grown in Kikyogahara?
- Merlot is the signature variety, but Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon also thrive here. Producers like Kido Winery use vertical trellis training to concentrate flavour and express terroir.
- Is Kikyogahara wine easy to buy?
- Top producers like Kido Winery sell only by lottery with acceptance rates below 5%, making their wines among the most coveted in Japan. Plan ahead and sign up for winery newsletters to participate.
- How does Kikyogahara compare to international Merlot regions?
- Blind tastings have shown Kikyogahara Merlot from producers like Kido Winery holding its own against Pomerol and Saint-Emilion — a testament to the region's unique terroir and meticulous farming.