The reason why Ashita no Wine is focusing on these two major regions is largely due to the increasing growth of wineries within these two regions in the last decade.

What drives growth in these two regions?

"Community”

The sharp increase in wineries is mainly due to the increasing quality of wine produced in these two regions. It is normal for people to congregate in regions that make the best wine. In Hokkaido, Bruce Gutlove was the first pioneer in the region, and the second pioneer was Takahiko Soga. Besides making great wine, these two are also great teachers. Both established their wineries 10R and Domaine Takahiko respectively, and they both led the charge in teaching the next generation of winemakers in the region. Both of them created a community by allowing for their wineries to become a coop winery. Bruce’s teachings have led winemakers to make their own wines in their own styles, with examples such as Irenka, Kondo vineyard, Nakazawa Vineyard, Takizawa Wine, Domaine Bless, Misono Vineyard, Nishio Vineyards and many more. Domaine Takahiko’s philosophy is very specific, he makes wine in a fashion which is accessible, to highlight to his students that wines don’t need excessive costs to be delicious. The winery is kitted out with large plastic tanks, encouraging the use of carbonic maceration and old oak barrels. His student’s wines such as Domaine Mont, Atsushi Suzuki, Lan Seqqua, Yamada-do, Lowbrow craft have trailblazed the Japanese wine scene with their natural yet clean flavors, and signature umami notes.

Next is Nagano, a region that has a slightly longer winemaking history than Hokkaido. With wineries such as Chateau Mercian, which began in 1877!

Even though wine had been made in the region for a long time, the growth in the last decade has been exponential. Nagano is very large with many towns having wineries popping up every year, but none more than the town of Tomi. Ashita no Wine has decided to work closely with this specific town largely due to quality of wine being produced, and the town’s commitment to becoming a winery focused region in Japan. Besides the quality of wine being produced in the region, Tomi is also home to the Chikumagawa Wine Academy (previously named Arc en Vigne Center wine school), this is an academy is responsible for teaching a large proportion of grape growers and budding winemakers, which resulted in some of the best wines being produced in the region! Besides being an academy to learn about wine, many of the students will also make wine in the facility of Arc En Vigne, the winery that started the school. Other than Arc en Vigne, many other wineries will share the facilities in this region, such as Cave Hatano and even our own Domaine Nakajima and Aperture Farm & Winery. There are also Coop wineries such as Tsuiji Labo which help their small neighbouring growers to produce wines, with the help of Takahiro Suga, a flying winemaker who makes wine in Hawaii and Australia when not making wine in Tomi.

These communities are the core of Japanese wineries, and the key to the growth and success of Japanese wine. These communities create regional style and opportunities for small growers, and are ultimately the backbone to wine regions.