The vineyards of Yamanashi excel as Japan's oldest and most successful wine producing districts. Canopies of grapevines spread across Yamanashi land, where sunshine, rainfall, the seasons and soil get together to bring on the growth of high quality grapes.
Under a different name the Lumiere Wine Co. began here in 1885. It was nearly 100 years later when Reiko married owner Toshihiko Tsukamoto, and added a new dimension in imagination and business flair to this leading producer of fine wines.
Reiko had no more than a layperson's knowledge of wine until, a widow, she married for the second time. She had spent her girlhood by the sea in Shizuoka Prefecture, coming after high school to Tokyo to enter Aoyama Gakuin University and concentrate on English. "I wanted to be independent," she said. "After graduation I joined a business company and stayed for several years in its office. My grandmother, who was ill, wanted to see me married. My husband was a lawyer specializing in international comparative law. We went to live in Aichi Prefecture."