Tired of drinking the same old wine? Luckily for you, scientists in Japan have developed a new wine grape for you to try.

Over the summer, researchers from Okayama University of Science announced they had developed a new wine grape variety, which they named “Muscat Shiragai.” According to the university, the grape is a hybrid of the wild Shiraga grape, which only “grows in the Takahashi River basin in Okayama Prefecture,” and the Muscat of Alexandria grape.

“I wanted to create wine grapes with wild genes,” Takuji Hoshino, professor emeritus at the university, told reporters at a press conference. “It would be fantastic if these grapes become widespread and the resulting wine leads to regional revitalization and tourism promotion.”

And really, there’s no one better suited to create a new grape than Hoshino. The university explained in its report that he became a founding director of Okayama University of Science’s Wine Fermentation Science Center in 2017, which conceived the idea of crossbreeding wild grapes, and the following year signed a partnership agreement with Kurashiki City and Funao Winery to begin the process.

Kenji Komatsu, Kurashiki City’s deputy mayor, said at the press conference, “I am very excited to be able to offer a wine packed with the charm that can only be made in Kurashiki. I look forward to further research results that will further refine Muscat Shiragai.”

Of course, the new grape is also important for advancing science. “It is important for industry, academia, and government to collaborate in this way to create an advanced region,” said Hiroyuki Hirano, president of Okayama University of Science. “Our university will continue to treat education and research as an inseparable unit, return the results to the local community, and contribute to solving regional and societal issues.”

So, how does it taste? The university held wine tastings and reported that guests commented that it is “sweet” and “delicious,” also noting it has a “subtle Muscat aroma and (is) easy to drink.”

The variety is now approved by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries. The university and local wineries set the goal to harvest more than 1,100 pounds of the grape in the 2028 and 2029 seasons. And that means, you can soon find it on regional menus and bottle shops, and maybe one day, in a wine shop near you.