Marufuji Winery

In May 1890, Jisaku Omura built a modest winery in the garden of his home in Katsunuma, just 13 years after Japan's first private winery was established in the same town. Over four generations and more than 130 years, the Omura family has never wavered from their founding conviction: to make authentic, dry wines at a time when sweet wines were the prevailing fashion.

Under the brand name Rubaiyat, meaning "quatrain," a name given by the poet Konosuke Hinatsu during a visit in 1956, the winery has pursued a philosophy of competing on the world stage with international varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, and Chardonnay, then channelling that knowledge back into Japan's indigenous Koshu grape.

Their Rubaiyat Koshu Sur Lie, an early pioneer of the sur lie aging method for Koshu, is considered a benchmark among sommeliers, sometimes described as a "Japanese Chablis." Their Rubaiyat Petit Verdot was selected for service at the 2016 Ise-Shima G7 Summit. Today, fourth-generation head Haruo Omura leads the estate from a grand traditional Japanese farmhouse overlooking the Katsunuma valley. The main building, which houses the original brewing cellar and white wine fermentation tanks, is registered as a tangible cultural property by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs.