insights from frontier Japan

Ida Kengo (28) is the eldest son of Ida Yoshinao (58), owner of the sushi restaurant "Kyouzushi" on Okushiri Island in Southern Hokkaido. Kengo stands at the front of his family's restaurant, hard at work as the island's only sommelier. He is spreading the word about the wonders of wine through efforts like creating pamphlets summarizing basic wine information and recommending sushi that matches wines to customers. The fisherman town of Okushiri has always mainly consumed sake and shochu, but Kengo is trying to introduce something new here, "I want to make wine more popular in Okushiri."

The first cider brewed by Pink Orchards, a cider brewery in the town of Yoichi in the Shiribeshi region of central Hokkaido, and a white wine produced by Domaine ICHI, a winery in the town of Niki, which is only available in restaurants in the region, have been released.

"Ice wine" is popular for its condensed sweetness, and ice wine grape harvesting began early in the morning on December 20 at an Ikeda Grape and Wine Research Institute field in the Tokachi region. Amidst the harsh coldness of 13 degrees below zero, 16 workers carefully picked grapes of the original Ikeda "Yamasachi" grape variety.

Employees of the Japan Airlines (JAL) group helped with the harvesting of grapes and the wine-making process at the BOSS AGRI winery in the city of Kitami. The JAL group employees visited as volunteers, as they did last year, to contribute to the community and discover local resources. A total of 31 employees who work at Memanbetsu and Haneda airports, participated for four days in October. During this time, six international-route ground staff from Haneda visited the winery to harvest ‘Kiyomai’ grapes and experience manual de-stemming work, which involves rubbing the grapes on metal nets to remove the stems from the bunches.

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.