From 1pm to 6pm, (last entrance 5pm) studio itto 碑文谷 スタジオイット1F
東京都目黒区目黒本町2-24-14
Entrance ¥3000 (¥2000 deductible from the first bottle purchased).
It’s harvesting time in Nagano, our team are weekly taking part since last month, we will happily share stories from the field!
About Funky Château winemakers:
“Toyohiko (Toyo) and Micchi Kanehashi are running this top winery in Nagano, Aoki Village. Previously they were working in Tokyo – Toyo as a music producer, and Micchi as an orthopaedist. But they loved wine, and one day wanted to make their own. They reached the point where this dream was to become reality in 2005, but they had to decide where to go. Hokkaido showed promise, but it was just too far from Tokyo – Toyo wanted to keep working in music. So, at the ages of 47 and 48 they moved to Nagano to start a winery.
Their inspiration was French and Italian wines, and specifically those made with minimal intervention. Joly, Cornelissen and Gravner were among their influences. So they decided to buy land just beside the vineyard of Manns in Higashiyama, which makes very good wines. It has very good drainage and it’s at 800 m. They now have 4 hectares here. They also have 3.5 hectares of grapes at Ueda, which is warmer, where they grow Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon, as well as Merlot and Semillon.
They were looking to have a winery surrounded by vineyards, and their current site proved to be perfect. The winery, which is beautifully designed (it’s 9 m high inside), was built in 2011. Viticulture is basically organic, with no herbicides or insecticides. They imported their plant material from Riversun in New Zealand.
The red wine barrel regime is usually 24 for reds, but Pinot Noir gets 18 months. They think that Cabernet Sauvgnon and Cabernet Franc have great potential in Ueda because they can wait as long as possible for harvest, because of the free-draining soils and low rainfall. They’d like to grow more Syrah and Sangiovese. Usually no sulfur is added until bottling.”(source Vivino)
ttp://avin.jp/event/5025
