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
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.
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”.
2024年は例年より幾分早く6月末から開花が始まり、数日の雨や低温はあったものの受粉も順調に進みました。昨年は少ない果実に加え、収穫直前の鳥による食害に襲われ、収量の減産を余儀なくされましたが、今年は収穫面積も広がり、ぶどう木についた房も昨年を上回るように見えます。
収穫まではまだ、幾多の困難と挑戦が待ち受けているものと考えていますが、それにもまして期待が膨らみます。
ワイナリー棟は昨年末に建物工事が竣工し、この8月には内装工事も終了を予定しています。
ご見学について
当面は平日(月~金)9時~16時。メールでご見学予約を受け賜ります。
ワイナリーでのワイン販売は当面できませんが、新設のスペースにて一部ワインですがご試飲(有料)いただく準備も進めています。(但し、10月は収穫、醸造期となりますのでご見学を受け付けられない場合もございます。ご了承下さい。)
レストラン設備も準備中ですが、現在、ワイナリーで料理していただける料理人の方を募集しておりますので、シェフが見つかり次第こちらの営業も開始いたします。皆様とお目にかかる日を楽しみにしております。
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
Employment information
We are currently recruiting tractor workers. See above for details.