‘Kicchae, kicchae,” Noriko Kishidaira’s father said. “Just cut ’em down!”
It was the 1990s and the young woman had recently returned from a four-year spell studying winemaking and training at vineyards in France, imbued with a conviction that old vines passed down through generations produce finer wine.
Shigenobu Takeda, head of the Takeda Winery, deep in Japan’s snow country, rejected his daughter’s impassioned appeal to save family vines planted in the 1920s. He saw an opportunity to replant the estate’s original vineyard with superior grapes.