In the 1970s, they could no longer stand by and watch the increasing amount of abandoned farmland in Hokkaido.
So they decided to revive Hokkaido's agriculture by cultivating wine grapes.
They managed to acquire some abandoned land intended for rice paddies, but the soil was clayey.
What's more, experts gave up on them, saying there was no way wine grapes could grow in an area with heavy snowfall.
After repeated failures, they were mocked by the public, who said they would soon go bankrupt.
They have continued to make raw wine using only domestically grown grapes, without relying on imported ingredients.
And now, Tsurunuma Winery, a farm directly managed by the company, has grown into the largest hedge vineyard in Japan, and Hokkaido Wine Headquarters Brewery has become the largest winery in Japan producing Japanese wine.
At the end of the 20th century, Japan was in the midst of a red wine boom, and grapes were traded at incredibly high prices.
Manufacturers demanded that they "grow as many grapes as possible," prompting farmers to scale back on fruit cultivation and instead cultivate wine grapes from seedlings.
However, three years later, when the harvest was finally in full swing, the wine boom began to show signs of fading, leaving farmers with a huge amount of grapes.
No one in Japan was willing to take them.
Many farmers came to us, asking if we could somehow take their grapes.
Having increased our harvest in anticipation of a boom, we were already at saturation point.
After much deliberation, however, we finally decided to take them.
We gathered used sake tanks from all over Japan and worked tirelessly to brew.
It took three years to sell all the wine we'd brewed that year.
But we reaped a huge harvest, much larger than we'd ever imagined.
This incident prompted many farmers to offer to do business with us.
Our greatest crisis forged a strong bond.
We have been making wine using only domestically grown grapes since before the term "Japanese wine" was even coined.
We have always been committed to using only fresh grapes and producing unheated raw wine.
We believe that one of the joys of wine is to respect the individuality of the grapes and allow people to experience the differences in their flavor.
We have never made wine with the sole aim of winning awards at competitions.
We wanted to make table wine rather than premium wine.
We have always aimed to make familiar wine that can be bought at the supermarket with dinner ingredients and enjoyed casually at the dinner table every day.
We have stubbornly stuck to our own methods that are appropriate for our means.
These thoughts live on in our brewery.
Wine Shop
We sell a wide selection of wines and wine-enjoying goods.
In addition to tasting at the tasting bar counter, be sure to take in the views of Ishikari Bay and Otaru Bay from the windows.
Survey
Answer our survey and show the image that appears at the end to our staff to receive a free glass of wine at the wine tasting corner.
Survey is here