insights from frontier Japan

Ikeda Wine Castle in the town of Ikeda in the Tokachi region of eastern Hokkaido added four venison dishes to its restaurant’s menu in November, as part of a ‘Hokkaido venison fair’. “We have prepared a venison dish that is perfect with our ‘Yamasachi’ wine. We hope people will enjoy how much they complement each other,” said head chef Nishina Naoya.

The work of thinning-down the ‘Yamasachi’ vines – developed especially for wine-making – is reaching its peak in the vineyards of Chiyoda in the town of Ikeda in the Tokachi region of eastern Hokkaido.

The first attempt at producing orange wine has begun at the Infeeld Winery in the Tanno-cho district of the city of Kitami in the Okhotsk region of eastern Hokkaido.

The Sasaki couple owns a winery in Hakodate, and it has been ten years since they launched a farm field in the neighboring city of Hokuto. Their decision to not use filtration or antioxidants gives their wine a pure, natural flavor. They ship about 13,000 bottles per year, and stock shelves at about 50 liquor stores nationwide. The wine sells out so quickly, they are often called, "The Ghost Wine".

Tasting of Hokkaido wine and tea leaves has taken place at a maintenance tunnel at Hoheikyo Dam (Minami-ku, Sapporo), where they are currently being stored as part of an experiment. Approximately 20 representatives from wineries and a specialty Japanese Tea store in Sapporo, which are taking part in the experiment, checked the mellowness and aroma attained during the maturing process.

To promote the June 9 "Rosé on the Rocks Day", the Ikeda Town Tourist Association in Eastern Hokkaido's Tokachi region is sponsoring a campaign from June 9 to 30 gifting Townsperson Rosé Wine to 15 people.

Located in the city of Nayoro, ‘Shinga’ is known as Japan’s northernmost winery. “If there were no varieties that contained the Crimson Glory pedigree, we couldn’t have produced red wine here,” confides CEO Takebe Yuji (48)

Domaine Takahiko (Yoichi) has been selected for the 4th consecutive year as a “5-Star winery”, the highest accolade of the ‘Japan Winery Award (sic) 2021’, which rates wineries and makers of high-quality wine throughout the whole of Japan. What’s more, the same region of Shiribeshi in central Hokkaido boasts three wineries that received a 4-star rating, ten that received a 3-star rating and two more that received the next best ‘connoisseurs’ award, increasing the presence of Shiribeshi’s wineries among Japan’s wine industry.

In early April, as the last remaining snow disappears, in a hillside vineyard overlooking Hakodate, maintenance was being carried out on the young Pinot noir variety of vines used to make red wine.