Kawachi Wine; located in Komagatani, Habikino City, is brimming with creative ideas to keep customers from getting bored. As Mr. Shigeyuki Kondo said, “You can nominate a guide of your choice in our winery tours!” This system was introduced to avoid any possible mismatches between tour content and visitor desire, for some visitors prefer to focus on studying their wine, while others simply want to enjoy comparing their wine.

“Regardless of whether an employee is full-time or part-time, I assign tasks to all whom can do the task with enthusiasm – this includes the guided tours. The tour content naturally gets richer this way too as they want to show the best of the vineyard that they care for with their very own hands. It also encourages everyone to work creatively to ensure of being nominated as a guide again. The tour content is unique to that particular guide - therefore meaning that visitors can enjoy a tour multiple times over!”

“When we started we were selling wine in bulk according to orders from major clients. But the sales contracts ran dry in 2000 and we immediately faced a dead end. My father then suggested turning our best efforts to direct sales and built Kawachi Wine Museum to attract customers.”

Mr. Kondo became involved in the management side too in 2005, reconsidering and changing things from the product line-up to the style. Business partners were also reconsidered. He introduced the system whereby visitors’ can choose their preferred tour guide, as well as allocating fields for workers to manage.

The label of Kawachi Wine’s flagship range has also been reconsidered. It now has a chic design with a motif of the sun and the moon rising from Mt. Nijo. It is also imparted with the creative idea of, ‘You’ll know what time of the day you’ll want to drink just by looking at the label!’ Mr. Kondo highly recommended the white wine; ‘Kontoku Wine Delaware’ with its clear appearance, refreshing yet tart taste and fresh aroma. It goes very well with Japanese dishes – don’t miss out on your chance to try it!

Mr. Yuzo Nakamura was born into a family of grape farmers that has continued since the Meiji period. Today, he is the third generation CEO of Asuka Wine. The Muroto Typhoon that struck the Kansai region in 1934 became the trigger for this regular table grape farm to start making wine. “Most of the vines were knocked down by the strong winds, it was nearly harvest time but all the grapes had fallen and were damaged.'' In order to save some of the damaged grapes he started making wine.

Out of a desire to deliver safe wine to customers, Asuka Wine has developed a recycling-oriented grape farm where everything that comes out of the field eventually returns to the field. They also refrain from using manufactured products and make their very own compost over the course of the year using the pruned branches, seeds and peel leftover pressing. He stated; “This is the secret to creating the ideal fluffy soil effective for growing roots”. They do not compromise on anything, even their soil-making.

“Good wine is determined by good grapes”, said Mr. Nakamura. He recommends the wine, ‘Asuka Delaware 2021’. This wine is made by purposely harvesting his 100% Delaware grapes before they are fully ripe to create a deliciously fruity wine with a characteristic fresh tart taste. You can also enjoy various other kinds of wine on the winery tours that are held regularly – why not try them all?

Thanks to their location near Osaka City, they are easily reached on foot from the closest station. Learn more about grapes and brewing while enjoying Osaka wine!