It all began at the beginning of the year 1900. At the time, railroad councilor Shinsuke Koyama was working on the construction of the Chuo Line. Workers had to overcome a seemingly endless series of difficulties as they struggled to extend the line toward the city of Kofu. It was along this route that Koyama discovered a remarkable landscape unfolding before him, a vast highlands filled with southward-facing slopes that basked in the sun. Confident that the site was ideally suited for the cultivation of grapes, he purchased the surrounding land and founded Tomi Farm in 1909. Throughout its subsequent history?and despite a series of crises that threatened the very existence of the farm?grapes continued to be cultivated on the land. In 1936, management of the enterprise was taken over by Zenbei Kawakami, known as the father of wine grapes in Japan, and Shinjiro Torii, the founder of Kotobukiya (present-day Suntory), marking the beginning of winemaking in earnest at the site.
During the 1950s, the farm embarked on a full-scale transition to European wine grape varieties, or Vitis vinifera, becoming the first winery in Japan to do so. A process of trial and error yielded results in 1964 with the advent of Chateau Lion, a full-fledged dry wine. The passion of these pioneers of Japanese winemaking had become reality.
At the same time, a research institute and school were established at the winery as workers devoted themselves to advancing the development of grape cultivation in Japan and to the popularization of serious winemaking enterprise in the country. Japan's first vocational school devoted to viticulture set about instructing students interested in vineyard management by means of a curriculum that combined practical training with theoretical study under the careful guidance of what was at the time a faculty of the highest domestic caliber. The school ultimately graduated numerous viticulturists and
winemakers.
In 1975, the vineyard successfully harvested grapes infected with noble rot, or Botrytis cinerea, another first in Japan. Soon after, years of hard work came to fruition in 1986 with the birth of Tomi Red 1982, the ultimate red wine. Reflecting workers' continued dedication to improving the quality of Tomi no Oka's wines, Tomi Red 1997 received a Gold Medal?the highest award?at Les Citadelles du Vin, an international wine and spirits competition held in Bordeaux, France. At the time, one century had passed since grapes were first cultivated at Tomi no Oka. Today, Tomi no Oka continues to craft Japanese wines that earn accolades at numerous international competitions every year, cementing its status as one of Japan's foremost wineries.