Michelle Sakazaki is Making Koshu “En Vogue”
All photos courtesy of Kazumi Wines
Meet Michelle
Nestled among the Cabernet and Chardonnay grapes growing in the Napa Valley is an unlikely newcomer — an ancient Japanese grape called Koshu. This varietal is almost exclusively grown in the Koshu Valley of Japan but crossed the Pacific a hundred years ago to be catalogued as part of the grapevine collection program at UC Davis. In 2020, several Koshu test vineyards were planted across the Napa Valley — and they are thriving. Today, Napa Koshu grapes are made into a mouthwatering wine by Kazumi Wines.
Behind this delicious new endeavor is Michelle Sakazaki, the Japanese-American founder of Kazumi Wines. Michelle has a rare combination of personalty traits: she is extremely diligent and wildly creative. And she is fun and approachable, which has led to connections, friendships and opportunities across industries and continents. But let’s start at the beginning.
A Tokyo Childhood
Michelle was born in Sacramento and raised in Tokyo where her Japanese American parents founded a sports marketing business and were pioneers in the industry. Michelle did not realize at the time that her mother was breaking ground as a female co-founder and CFO in a country where women tended to be more submissive and rarely held executive roles.
“From when I was little, that’s what I remember — my mom in her power suits and high heels, going into meetings. She was always there with my dad, growing the business. Years later I realize that was a big deal, to see that growing up and thinking it was normal for people to call her boss. That wasn’t something seen every day in Japan.”
With busy parents, Michelle was independent from a young age. She took a one-hour train ride with her sisters every day to attend an American school, where she made a close knit group of lifelong friends. She often cooked her own meals — “basic” dishes like curry rice, miso soup from scratch and grilled fish. (Not exactly basic cooking for most kids!) She enjoyed sketching and daydreamed of being a fashion designer, although she never considered haute couture a realistic career.
Childhood picture of Michelle (bottom right) with her mother and sisters in Tokyo.
La Bella Figura
At eighteen Michelle left Tokyo to attend UC Davis, and true to her childhood dream earned her Bachelor’s of Science in Textile and Costume Design. At UC Davis Michelle made a network of friends that she remains close with 25 years later.
Determined to learn from the best, after graduating Michelle packed two suitcases and set out across the globe to Italy, one of the fashion capitals of the world. She took intensive Italian classes every day for four months while searching for a job. But she discovered that it was hard to land a job in fashion overseas — or even an unpaid internship. She researched how to improve her employment prospects, and decided to get a Master’s Degree in Fashion Design.
Michelle chose to attend Instituto Marangoni in Milan because of its reputation for excellent job opportunities after graduation. Her work ethic and talent impressed a professor who selected her to interview for a prestigious internship with Missoni Italian luxury fashion house. Michelle was chosen for the internship which led to a full time job, and her fashion career took off from there.
For four years Michelle was immersed in textiles and fabrics and pulled all-nighters to finish pieces for fashion shows. She witnessed the lifecycle of haute couture projects from ideation to creation. She had artistic liberty at Missoni: “the vision is usually done by the art director, and from there they tell you the image that they want and they let you run with it.”
In Italy Michelle made many friends and gained a real appreciation for wine and Italian cuisine (both eating and cooking it), which were woven into the fabric of Italian life. “In Europe, wine is so accessible. You can get good wine for 3 Euros, which is unheard of in the US. People will sit around the table for five hours during a meal, tasting wine and talking and even bringing out instruments and singing. That’s where my love for wine and long dinners started.”
New York State of Mind
After six years in Italy, Michelle began to feel the effects of being overworked and underpaid, and longed to be closer to family. Her parents had retired in Napa, so she decided to move back to the states. She said goodbye to her Italian friends, packed her bags and her Italian recipes, and took a job with Armani Exchange in New York (a little closer to California than Italy).
Michelle found that she had jumped from the frying pan into the fire. Armani Exchange had four seasons compared to the two seasons at Missoni; and although there were no fashion shows to coordinate, there were tight collection release deadlines. She worked hard (and played hard, it was New York after all), but felt unfulfilled with the less creative work that she was doing at Armani Exchange.
Michelle finally decided after eight years in the fashion industry that the lifestyle was unsustainable. She wanted a career change, and considered one of her two other passions — culinary school or the wine industry.
Trading Fashion Shows for Harvest Parties
This is where fate stepped in. Michelle’s father had realized that he was too restless for the golf retirement lifestyle, and launched 90 Plus Wine Club in 2009 with a business partner to help promote Napa wines in Asia. The project was more work than expected, and the founders offered Michelle a part-time temporary job in Napa while she figured out her next move.
Again with no time off, Michelle packed her suitcases and flew JFK to SFO. She leaned into her new role running operations for 90 Plus Wine Club, learning the skills she needed on-the-job. Michelle proved vital to the company, and the position quickly became a permanent one.
More than a decade later, Michelle is still General Manager of 90 Plus. She travels to Asia regularly to host club events and grow the club membership (and of course to connect with childhood friends from Tokyo). The company has expanded to promote Napa wines to club members not only in Japan but also in Taiwan.
Since she did not have formal training in wine and wanted to expand her knowledge, Michelle took Wine & Spirit Education Trust courses, studying at night and on the weekends to earn her certification through tough Level 4. Michelle seems to have a pattern of educating herself at every chapter of her career. “It’s funny because I never saw myself as studious,” she explains “but I am really curious and I love learning.”
Kazumi: Beauty & Harmony
Michelle found that she missed the creative aspect of the fashion industry and dreamed of combining her passion for wine and her artistic side to create a boutique wine brand. Again fate stepped in — or more accurately, Michelle made her own luck by being hardworking and charming. Family friends Michel and Claudine Perret (who happen to be the author’s parents) had Sauvignon Blanc grapes available for sale from their Rutherford vineyard and offered them to Michelle at a friends-and-family rate. She had always enjoyed wine made with their grapes, and decided to go for it and purchased a half ton of grapes.
Suddenly, it was go time! Michelle scrambled to put together her wine brand. It was a scary and exciting chapter, but she recalls that once she came up with the name, everything else fell into place. “Kazumi” is Michelle’s middle name, and means harmony and beauty. With her design background and the Japanese emphasis on presentation, she created her own label, which is an original watercolor painting that she painted herself.
In order to fund this new endeavor, Michelle raised money through a Crowdfunding website, tapping into the broad network of connections she had made over the years traveling for 90 Plus. With the first vintage funded, the endeavor felt less daunting.
Kazumi’s Sauvignon Blanc is crisp and citrusy, and Michelle describes the finish as lingering “with notes of grapefruit and a hint of almond.” She recommends it for sipping on its own or to enjoy with seafood.
Since its inception in 2015, Michelle has expanded Kazumi to add a single-vineyard Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon. The first vintage sold out just three weeks after release. Her mouthwatering description of the Cabernet Sauvignon includes “aromas of cassis, bramble and cocoa,” and “sweet baking spices, vanilla and floral notes of violet.”
Welcome Koshu
Michelle has recently added a third and novel wine to the Kazumi portfolio: Koshu. It is rare to find Koshu wines on wine lists in the US, because only a small amount is produced in the Koshu region in Japan and very little of the wine is exported. But out of the ashes of the 2017 Atlas Fires that burned 50,000 acres in Napa County, an opportunity was born.
The Sakazaki family’s backyard hobby vineyard on the edge of Milliken Creek Canyon was destroyed in the 2017 wildfires. Thankfully, their home was spared — although many of their neighbors were not as fortunate. When they were planning for the replanting of their damaged vineyard, a friend serendipitously offered them Koshu canes that he had obtained from UC Davis. They decided to try something new and grafted Koshu to their rootstock.
The Koshu vines flourished, and Michelle partnered with her father Jack Sakazaki, her Kazumi winemaker Kale Anderson and his wife and business partner Ranko Anderson, to launch the Napa Koshu Project. The team has planted Koshu test vineyards in several areas across Napa Valley, with plans to expand where the vines flourish.
In 2021, Michelle was surprised to harvest enough grapes to bottle a first vintage, and produced 50 cases of Kazumi Koshu. She describes Napa Koshu as having “notes of crisp green apple, yuzu, mineral, and a hint of savory umami.” The 2021 Koshu was delicious and quickly sold out.
In 2022, Michelle was ecstatic to have double the yield, from vines that are maturing well. Her Kazumi Koshu is currently sold at HAL YAMASHITA Japanese restaurant in Napa, and Michelle hopes that it will be available in more local restaurants in the future. The Koshu team is also focusing on sales in Japan, and has already placed the wine in high-end Michelin starred restaurants including Nobu Tokyo.
Michelle (third from right) and fellow alumnae from UC Davis enjoying a Kazumi wine release party.
Diversity in the Wine Industry
Michelle has her hands full with 90 Plus Wine Club and Kazumi, but is also enrolled in the Global Wine Executive MBA Program at Sonoma State University. The program will include an international study tour, which seems particularly befitting for Michelle.
Michelle is getting her MBA with an eye towards the future. She expects her father will retire (for reals) one day, and his ultimate goal will be to sell the family’s 90 Plus Wine Club. At that point, Michelle will start a new chapter in her career journey. With more formal business training, she will be ready for anything.
One disappointment for Michelle has been the lack of diversity in the wine industry. She is one of two women in her eight-person cohort at Sonoma State, and the only minority. She laments that “it would be nice to see more women in power in the wine industry.” Luckily, in addition to some prominent female winemakers and wine executives in the Valley that she admires, she has her mother as a role model for being “boss” in a male-dominated field.
What’s Next for Michelle?
One burning question is whether Michelle will ever complete the trifecta of fashion, wine and food. She laughs that she will probably not go to culinary school despite her dreams in the past, but she does have a little idea brewing. Michelle is a newlywed, and her husband David has experience in the food industry. Together they might follow in her parents’ footsteps to launch a husband-and-wife endeavor.
Perhaps Michelle should consider another Crowdfunding to launch a wine tasting and cooking show — she is genuine, charismatic and quite frankly a riot. I would watch it in a heartbeat.
