Photo/Illutration A Fukushima Ouse Winery store is lined with bottles brewed in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture. They are named Vin de Ollage after a local dialect meaning “my home.” (Ken Miyazaki)

KORIYAMA, Fukushima Prefecture—A foundation that has helped this city recover from the 2011 earthquake-tsunami disaster will donate a winery to local authorities, signaling an end to the need for continued assistance.

Mitsubishi Corporation Disaster Relief Foundation, an affiliate of Mitsubishi Corp., plans to transfer ownership of Fukushima Ouse Winery to Koriyama city by the end of March.

IS Holdings Co., which offers information technology and financial services in Tokyo, will lease the winery from the city and take over operations in April.

The foundation determined that the relief program is now on track to realizing a sustainable business rather than providing a temporary form of assistance.

The foundation set up Fukushima Ouse Winery on a 9,000-square-meter site leased from Koriyama in 2015 to help the city rebuild from extensive damage caused by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.

With investments totaling 1.3 billion yen ($8.2 million), the facility features not only wine-making equipment but also a distillation still for brandy production and a store on its grounds.

The operator aimed to grow, process and sell fruits in the area. As a first step, Fukushima Ouse Winery pitched cider and liqueur based on apples, peaches and pears grown in Fukushima Prefecture.

The winery then started cultivating grapes for winemaking in collaboration with regional farmers and the municipality, even though such crops had not been grown in Koriyama before.

In 2019, a wine using these grapes was marketed under the brand name Koriyama Wine.

“We have finally come this far,” said Hisanao Okawara, representative director of Fukushima Ouse Winery. “Grapes for winemaking were difficult to culture in Koriyama due to frequent autumn rainfall and the relatively mild temperature fluctuations between day and night.”

Grape output in Koriyama has been gradually rising. Production is estimated to reach 55 tons in fiscal 2024, enough to create 35,000 liters of wine.

Bottles from Koriyama Wine sell for 2,100 yen to 3,000 yen, excluding tax, now that it is taking root as a local brand.

“The alcoholic content of our line is lower than that of ordinary wine products, making it easy for even beginners to enjoy,” Okawara said. “We have won consumer trust with the safe and secure quality of our wholly locally produced brew.”

With this project, Mitsubishi Corp. hoped to create jobs in the disaster-affected area so that a novel but stable business could emerge.

“A mechanism that goes beyond mere charity will provide real encouragement for those affected,” Mitsubishi President Ken Kobayashi, who currently serves as chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said of the plan.

IS Holdings has an affiliate that runs a ski resort and a hotel in Fukushima Prefecture. It intends to further increase wine production and sales efforts while using the winery as a tourist spot.

Yoshiyuki Nojima, representative director of Mitsubishi Corporation Disaster Relief Foundation, expressed high expectations.

“I am deeply moved as one of those involved in the introduction of the winery,” he said. “I am looking forward to seeing its attractions shared among a far broader range of people via new approaches.”

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