ZoomPinot Noir2022
Coco Farm & Wineryココ・ファーム・ワイナリー
Vinified at 10R Winery, Iwamizawa →
Ashikaga, Tochigi, Japan
About this wine
Coco Farm & Winery sits on Jurassic-bedrock hillsides in Ashikaga, Tochigi, with average vineyard slopes of 38 degrees that force every operation by hand. The estate began in 1958 as a vineyard tended by students of the Kokoromi Gakuen welfare facility under teacher Noboru Kawada; the social mission still runs through every step of farm and cellar today. The Pinot Noir is sourced from estate plots where ripening pushes hard in the Tochigi summer, and the 14% alcohol on this 2022 release reflects the climate rather than any cellar push. Wild-yeast fermentation, no herbicides or chemical fertilizers in the vineyards, all hand-work given the slope. Underground barrel cellar carved into the hillside for élevage. The result is a dense, sun-warmed Japanese Pinot Noir with genuine grip, closer to a Carneros or southern-Burgundy register than a cool-climate one.
Winemaking
Pinot Noir harvested at the Kimura Farm in Hokkaido, fermented with wild yeast at 10R Winery. 95% of the grapes were destemmed, while the remaining 5% was kept as whole bunches and placed into tanks. Fermentation proceeded slowly at low temperatures with wild yeasts over an extended period. After gentle pressing, 10% of the wine was transferred into new French oak barrels.
About the cellar
Coco Farm × 10R "Coco-to-Aru" (こことある) collaboration: Coco Farm — based 700 km south in Ashikaga, Tochigi — sources Hokkaido fruit (Pinot Noir, Pinot Rosé, Zweigelt) from contracted growers in Yoichi, Iwamizawa and surrounding districts. Bruce vinifies the wines at 10R in Iwamizawa, then they ship to Ashikaga only to be bottled and released under the Coco Farm label as the Coco-to-Aru series. The name puns on とある (toaru / "a certain place") and reads as "Coco and 10R." Note: Coco Farm's "Kita Novo" sparkling line uses Hokkaido fruit Bruce helped develop, but the traditional-method tirage happens at Ashikaga rather than at 10R — those are a different (and looser) form of collaboration. Read more about 10R Winery →