Brand's products Domaine MONT

Established: 2016

Owner：Atsuo Yamanaka

Location：898 Nobori-cho, Yoichi-cho, Yoichi district, Hokkaido

Activity：Vine growing, winemaking

Vineyard area: 1.5 hectares

Production volume：7,500 liters

VINEYARD

Domaine Mont is a winery located at an altitude of around 50 m in Yoichi, Hokkaido. Atsuo Yamanaka, owner, studied with Takahiko Soga of Domaine Takahiko and learned winemaking for 2 years. He set up his own winery in spring 2016. Facing east, as soon as sun rises, sun shines through his 1.5 ha vineyard, in a privileged environment where grapes are grown with good ventilation and drainage.

Because temperature rarely exceeds 30 degrees during the day and drops below 20 degrees at night, photosynthesis is efficient and, as a result, moderate acidity tends to persist and sugar content to increase. Accumulated temperature at Yoichi is similar to that in northern Burgundy and Alsace.

This is why Mr. Yamanaka only grows 5,000 vines of Pinot Gris, one of the most successful varieties in Alsace. As far as possible, he avoids using pesticides and especially insecticides, as he respects insects as wild yeast carriers. Because of his license nature, he can only use grapes grown in the region. Apart from Pinot Gris, he buys other types of grapes from his 4 farming neighbors. As for winemaking method, he chooses to use wild yeast rather than dry yeast to speed up fermentation.

It's better to let different micro-organisms work slowly and create an aroma that's both delicate and complex,” he says. Born and raised in a family of Japanese tea merchants, he truly learned “umami, bitterness and delicacy” of Japanese tea, and now strives to express its flavor. Today, he strives to express this “Japaneseness” in his wine.

THE STORY

Mr. Nakayama originally worked for an architectural design firm in Seattle, USA. After returning to Japan in 2012, he went to Hokkaido to teach snowboarding. 80% of instructors were farmers, as winter is the slow season for agriculture in Hokkaido. Through these encounters with farmers, he became intrigued by agriculture.

Off-season from spring to autumn for him, as an instructor, led him to work in a resort restaurant. It was then that he became sufficiently fascinated by wine to become a sommelier. He had originally intended to grow his own grapes, but had never learned about winemaking. That's why he went to Domaine Takahiko for training. After his training period from 2014 to 2016, he opened Domaine Mont himself.

Location of the current vineyard was an abandoned plot of land for 15 years that turned into a forest, So he had to cut down the trees one by one with a chainsaw and level out the land. Today, however, vineyard is certified to JAS organic standards and the grapes are grown organically at Domaine Mont.