Grape Republic was founded by restaurateur and sommelier Kazuomi Fujimaki in 2015 who up and moved from Tokyo to the village of Shinden in Yamagata. With no previous experience in winemaking - he set three simple rules for himself: The cultivation must be organic, the wines must be made without sulphur and other additives, and they should preferably have a touch of amphora storage. The goal was to make live and clear Japanese wines in free style using the grapes grown in Yamagata's orchards throughout the 20th century.