Chotarō Misawa (三澤長太郎)
Founder of Grace Wine (1923) — first generation of the four-generation Misawa family in Katsunuma
Life
Chotarō Misawa (三澤長太郎) founded Chūō Budōshu (中央葡萄酒, literally "Central Grape Wine") in Katsunuma, Yamanashi in 1923 (Taishō 12). The 1920s were a transitional period for Japanese wine — the first generation of French-trained Katsunuma vintners (Takano, Tsuchiya) was ending; the next generation of Yamanashi family wineries was beginning. Lumière’s 1885 founding, Marufuji’s 1890, and Mercian’s 1877 lineage all preceded Chotarō’s, but his founding of Chūō Budōshu established what would become one of the most important Yamanashi family-winery dynasties.
The Misawa family had been involved in Yamanashi grape farming for several generations before the formal winery founding. Chotarō’s decision in 1923 to formalize the operation as a wine company reflected a confidence that Japanese wine — and Koshu specifically — could be a sustainable family business.
The Four Generations
The Misawa family lineage now spans four generations:
1. Chotarō Misawa (1st gen) — founder, 1923 2. 2nd-generation Misawa — interwar/postwar continuity 3. Hisahiro Misawa (3rd gen) — postwar modernization 4. Shigekazu Misawa (4th gen) — current proprietor, with daughter Ayana Misawa as head winemaker since 2008
The 1992 brand renaming from Chūō Budōshu to "Grace Wine" was driven by the brand’s growing international reputation; the 2008 hiring of Ayana — the 5th-generation heir — as head viticulturist marked the beginning of the Decanter Gold era.
Why He Matters
Chotarō Misawa is the founder of the dynastic continuity that has produced Grace Wine. While individual viticultural and winemaking innovations belong to later generations (especially Shigekazu’s site-driven hillside-vineyard program and Ayana’s 2017 Decanter Gold Cuvée Misawa Akeno), the institutional continuity that allowed those innovations to happen traces directly to Chotarō’s 1923 founding.
He represents a pattern across Yamanashi: the early-20th-century family-winery generation whose multigenerational stewardship has produced the modern Koshu fine-wine identity. Lumière (Furuya/Mochizuki family), Marufuji (Ōmura family), Iwanohara (Kawakami / Sakai family), and Grace (Misawa family) all illustrate the same dynamic.
Details
- Founded: Chūō Budōshu (中央葡萄酒), 1923
- Location: Katsunuma, Yamanashi
- Renamed: "Grace Wine" in 1992
- Family lineage: Currently fourth/fifth generation (Shigekazu Misawa + daughter Ayana Misawa)
- Modern legacy: Decanter Gold (2017), single-vineyard hillside Koshu program
Sources