Elin McCoy

I’m standing in a vineyard where the vines look like small trees, their branches spread in a high canopy with pink-skinned grape bunches protected from rain by small wax paper hats. Anyone who has visited Yamanashi, Japan’s wine country, would instantly recognise them as Koshu, the unique white grape variety that the Japanese have been, justifiably, busy promoting internationally.

I became a Koshu fan on