Vineyard

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Akashina Tennobara, Azumino City, Nagano Prefecture, is located on the left bank of the Takase River, at the eastern foot of the Northern Alps Mountains, which runs in the central part of Japan.
The Azumino region was a U-shaped sea that opened to the Sea of Japan about 300million years ago, where debris such as gravel, sand, mud, breccia tuff, and volcanic clastic rocks such as tuff has accumulated.
Sedimentary basin began to land conversion from 2 million years ago, and mountain gravel was brought in from the Northern Alps Mountains from 600,000 years ago.
Akashina Tennobara is located on the eastern side of the Alps, across the Azumino area, and in the region on the gentle slope of the southwestern side of the Oanayama Mountains called [Higashiyama], which consists of a brittle conglomerate layer at an altitude of 600 to 1000 meters.
It is a slope of 10 to 15 degrees from the flood plain on the left bank of the Takase River to the foot of the mountain.
It is reported in the area that there was a landslide at the time of the Great Zenkoji Earthquake in the Edo period, so it seems that the hinterland mountain soil forms the topsoil.
Since it mainly consists of gravel soil and sandy soil with little clay, it has excellent underground penetration.
(Reference: The first volume of Akashina Town History)

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Microclimate

Azumidaira spreads like a valley at the foot of the Northern Alps as shown in the attached photo. There is a mountainous area that looks like a small hill on the left bank of the Takase River that flows southward from Hakuba, and the tip of the mountain is Oshinoyama, and the Tennobara vineyard extends to the west-southwest facing the Alps at the bottom.
The right bank of the Takase River has a climate at the foot of the Alps, but there is clearly less rainfall on the Higashiyama side across the Takase River.
The amount of precipitation is about 1,000 mm per year, which is small in Japan and the sunshine hours are long. Since the Alps are towering like a folding screen, strong winds tend to be weaker than Matsumoto and Shiojiri.
The slope is around 10 to 15 degrees, so mountain winds and valley winds occur, so the wind is always moving.
Even in the summer, the fresh air blown from the Northern Alps passes through the valley and is well ventilated. With an altitude of 570 to 630 meters and an inland climate, the temperature range is large and even in the midsummer it becomes very cool in the morning. It seems to be the best environment for grapes to have a high sugar content.

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