Every springtime, in the dead of night, a mysterious sight appears in the hills below Izumo, a land of myth that’s home to Japan’s oldest shrine.
Small fires that look like festival lanterns dot rows of farmland as far as the eye can see. The blazes are a distinctive and crucial feature at Okuizumo Budoen, a vineyard crafting fine wines in what chief vintner Norio Abe calls “an often hostile westerly climate.”
Okuizumo’s flagship wine is made from shōkōshi, a grape developed from wild yamabudō fruit. Naturally hardy and resistant to disease, the variety is well-suited to winemaking in a region increasingly prone to extreme heat and typhoons.