de MONTILLE & HOKKAIDO
de Montille & Hokkaido Project
Domaine de Montille is a 300 years old family-owned wine estate in Burgundy, France, one of the most famous and oldest wine producing regions. The current owner, Etienne de Montille, believes in the potential of Japan for high quality wines and especially Hokkaido for the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay varietals.
This is why in 2016, he decided to launch the de Montille & Hokkaido”project that is, to our knowledge, the first vineyard in Japan being planted by a foreign wine producer. The Japanese viticulture is quite modest by international standards with 2.000 of ha planted of wine-grapes and about 200 wineries within the four main regions of production that are Hokkaido, Nagano, Yamagata and Yamanashi.
Our project is pioneering by essence and cooperative by nature. The de Montille & Hokkaido project intends to fully share the millenium old know-how and experience from Burgundy with the community of winemakers of Japan while the new generation of Japanese producers will share their skills and knowledge of Hokkaido terroirs and climate with our team so that we will all together learn and try to find the ways to produce high quality wines expressing the terroirs of Hokkaido with their unique characters.
Our Japanese-French team planted about 7 hectares to date in our vineyard in Hakodate and we aim at gradually planting up to 25 hectares. The first wines coming from our own vineyards will be produced in 2023 and we engaged into the process of building our winery with the help of the city of Hakodate. Meantime, from 2018 to 2022, we are able to produce small quantities of wines for with grapes coming from friendly Hokkaido vine growers in the Yoichi region. This allows us to learn and understand how to vinify Hokkaido grapes in a Japanese environment.
During these five years of learning, we wish to reserve this production for Japanese wine lovers only and share with them some strong feelings we experienced during this fascinating adventure. This is why the labels will be different for each of these 5 vintages (2018 to 2022).
In the future, we will sell our de Montille & Hokkaido wines from Hakodate in Japan but also overseas and will to our best to contribute to the growing fame of Japanese wines in the world thanks to this new generation of talented producers we feel privileged to work with.
2016
Project start
2019
First vine planting
2020
豪 2018 first release
2023
Start our winery
in Hakodate
Kyo Surprise 2019
From 2018 to 2022, we will produce small quantities of wines from grapes coming from friendly Hokkaido vine growers in the Yoichi region and vinify thanks to a partnership with Coco Farm and Mr Bruce Gutlove (10R Winery).
During these five years of learning, the production is reserved for Japanese wine lovers only and we wish to share with them some of the strong feelings we experienced during this fascinating adventure. A different label will express one of the feeling for each of these 5 vintages (2018 to 2022).
2018, our first vintage, expresses the boldness and willingness to take on unprecedented and hard challenges of a Burgundy producer planting vineyards in Hakodate and making wines in Hokkaido. We chose " 豪 Go Oser" .
2019, our second vintage expresses the numerous surprises and wonders that we encountered during this journey. The 2019 vintage was a surprise in itself with a warmer season and riper than usual grapes. We named it “ 驚 Kyo Surprise”.
KERNER
2019
Variety: Kerner
Contents: 750ml
Alcohol content: 12%
Clear green with sparkle. The aroma is fresh and lively, with nose of well-melted barrels of white flowers, mimosas, linden trees and hazelnuts. The taste is brightly sour, generous and mellow. It's a very well-balanced wine.
PINOT NOIR
2019
Variety: Pinot Noir
Contents: 750ml
Alcohol content: 12%
Purple with a pale shine. Freshly crushed strawberries and small red fruits give off a complex aroma of rose petals, floral tones of peony and aromas of acerola and white pepper with a lively acidity. On the palate, the delicate and vibrant tannins blend in well, and finally the tannins with mineral nuances are felt. It's a very elegant Pinot Noir made in a cool climate.
ZWEIGELT
2019
Variety: Zweigelt
Contents: 750ml
Alcohol content: 12%
Purple with deep ruby nuances. It gives off a fascinating scent of violets, red fruits, black cherries and white pepper, and nutmeg. It has a fine body, great texture, volume & length and is very well balanced. It has a fresh and lively finish.
Motoko Ishii
FACEBBOK 16/07/2021
Participated in the second vintage unveiling tasting party of the De Montille & Hakkaido project. Following Go 2018 to send a different message every year, 2019 is "surprise" to show discoveries and surprises and share the transition of growth. Hakodate's own vinyard (on the right side of the photo) will be planted from 2019 .....
Journalist's comments
今年の函館は、例年に比べ雪は少なく、気温も乱高下しており、ぶどう畑の雪もほとんどなくなってきています。
栽培スタッフも本格的に作業準備を進めています。今年もまず、剪定作業から始まり、新植準備やポスト立て等萌芽前のスケジュールも盛り沢山で、慎重に準備を進めています。２０２４年はどんな年になるのか、期待と不安の入り混じる季節です。
ワイン販売について
de Montille & Hokkaido ４回目のヴィンテージとなる2021年産のリリース案内を開始いたしました。
大変心苦しいお知らせですが、本ヴィンテージは生産本数に限りがあり、昨年お申込みいただいたお客様の優先受付となっております。新たにお待ちいただいているお客様には心よりお詫び申し上げます。
続く2022年産は、より幅広いお客様にお試し頂く事のできるよう検討してまいりますので、なにとぞご理解賜りますようお願い申し上げます。
ド・モンティーユ＆北海道スタッフ一同
de Montille & Hokkaido
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de Montille & Hokkaido
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