442: Meet Kanaye Nagasawa, the ‘Grape King’ of Napa Valley

When Kanaye Nagasawa (Nov. 10, 1852-Feb. 8, 1934) became a disciple of Thomas Lake Harris’s cult, The Brotherhood of the New Life, it changed his life. Recruited by English noblewoman Laurence Oliphant to the Fountaingrove commune property in New York, this decision would catapult his life halfway across the globe and cement his legacy as California’s pioneer Japanese vintner, and earn him titles such as the “Grape King,” “the Robert Mondavi of his time,” and “Prince Nagasawa” (due to him being a son of a samurai).

Born Hikosuke Isonaga, Nagasawa’s youth was anything but “wain no yasuragi” (the peaceful and relaxing experience often associated with enjoying wine in the Japanese context). Born in Kagoshima, Japan, Nagasawa was a member of the Satsuma clan. In 1865, at the age of 13, he was one of 15 young samurai smuggled out of Edo-era Japan on a secret mission, and sent to the United Kingdom to learn Western customs, technology, and systems to help modernize Japan. The youngest in the group, he changed his name to Kanaye Nagasawa to protect his family, since traveling outside of Japan was illegal at the time. 

Being too young for university, Nagasawa then moved to Aberdeen, Scotland to live with the family of Scottish merchant Thomas Blake Glover—who had come to Japan when he was 21 and later in his life helped lay the foundations for companies now known as Mitsubishi and Kirin Brewery—to attend school and learn English, which Nagasawa did while acquiring a Scottish accent.

When funding for Nagasawa and his fellow samurai students’ education began to run out in 1867, most of the young men returned to their homeland. Nagasawa was one of five who stayed in the United Kingdom. In 1869, he became one of the first Japanese immigrants to the United States after meeting Oliphant, who recruited him and the remaining group members to join Harris in New York. In exchange for their work on the colony, Harris would pay for their continued education. After the Meiji Restoration in Japan in 1868, Nagasawa was the only one who did not return to Japan, abandoning his original mission of helping modernize Japan. Nagasawa studied at Cornell University in 1870 for a year. In 1875, at age 23, he joined Harris at the colony’s property in Santa Rosa, California, called Fountaingrove, where their utopian colony was established. At that point, the colony was receiving an income from winemaking through its Fountain Grove Winery.

The first commercial vines were planted in the mid-1850s by European settlers from France and Germany, but Nagasawa was the one who spearheaded what would become one of the largest wineries in California, producing more than 200,000 gallons of wine a year from the vineyards located on the 2,000-acre Fountaingrove estate in Santa Rosa. 

His pioneering efforts established California’s wine industry and led to Napa Valley becoming one of the world’s leading wine-growing regions for more than a century.

Harris may have been the one who founded the winery in 1882, with the goal of establishing a grape vineyard along Napa Valley’s rolling hills, and attributed the wine’s success to the spiritual qualities of the community, but it was Nagasawa’s expertise, for which he earned several medals and awards, that put Fountain Grove on the map. Nagasawa also introduced California’s wine to the international market in Europe. His pioneering efforts established California’s wine industry and led to Napa Valley becoming one of the world’s leading wine-growing regions for more than a century.

As the winery prospered, the commune and Harris continued to make headlines in the San Francisco Chronicle, which labeled him a charlatan. These repeated articles and accusations damaged his reputation, eventually leading Harris to step down from his position in 1892.

Nagasawa assumed ownership of the estate, leadership of the cult, and management of the winery in 1900. Soon after, he had the Fountaingrove Barn constructed—a 16-sided building known for its shape and iconic red color. This change in power and estate ownership was monumental, as it also meant Nagasawa became the first Japanese national to live permanently in the United States.

Nagasawa often hosted extravagant parties at Fountaingrove Barn, even throughout Prohibition in the 1920s and 1930s. He didn’t let a ban on alcohol stop his party guests from sipping the fruits of his labor. Those who visited the winery included Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Japanese diplomat Inazo Nitobe. As his popularity increased, and people locally and globally came to admire him and his products, Nagasawa became known as the “Wine King.” In 1915, at the request of Emperor Taishō, he was awarded one of Japan’s highest honors, the Order of the Rising Sun, typically awarded to individuals who have made distinguished achievements in international relations, culture, or advancements in their field. This celebration is traditionally held in Japan. 

But just as clouds obscure the moon and wind over flowers, even the best of times can come to a screeching halt. In 1934, the state government seized Fountaingrove as part of California’s Alien Land Laws, which had been passed in 1913 and prevented Asian nationals from owning land or businesses. Nagasawa was never able to become a citizen due to discriminatory laws such as the Nationality Act of 1790, despite having lived in the United States for more than 50 years.

In an attempt to keep the estate in his family, Nagasawa tried to have his grand-nephew, Kosuke Ijichi, who was born in the United States and therefore, a U.S. citizen, take over. However, Ijichi was not of age. Nagasawa never married or had children of his own, resulting in Santa Rosa City Council taking control of the estate and quickly selling the land. Nagasawa died in 1934 as the sole resident of the cult—other members had gradually died over time and younger generations chose not to join the group. He was cremated in the San Francisco Bay Area.