COCO FARM & WINERY
Ashikaga, Tochigi

Grapes: Kerner 97%, Sylvaner 3% (All from Hokkaido)
Type: White
Style: Sweet, medium-bodied
Colour: Pale straw
Alcohol: 12%
Wild yeast: Yes
Any added sulphites: 55 ppm
Filtered: Yes
Serving temperature: 5-8°C
Production: 7,180 bottles
Please store in a cool, dark place.

Tasting notes
The nose is complex, with grapefruit, apricot and yellow peach fruit, with hints of honey, verbena, ginger and cider. The palate is sweet and rounded by a good acidity. The aftertaste is followed by an alcohol-derived spiciness and bitterness.

Food pairing
Carrot rapé, pâté de campagne, marinated salmon and cream cheese, flan de foie gras, tsukudani of Japanese pepper, vegetable tempura, Kobako crab, simmered oysters in cream, Hachis parmentier, char-grilled Miyazaki chicken, shaved ice with white peach and ricotta cheese, kumquat compote, savarin. 

Winemaking
In 2021, noble rot began to appear in the vineyards of contract growers of Coco Farm & Winery in Yoichi, Hokkaido, at harvest time, resulting in a mixed harvest of noble rot. Botrytis cinerea is a phenomenon in which the grape skins become infected with the Botrytis cinerea fungus (grey rot), which makes holes on skins by which water evaporates leading to  increase the sugar content and aroma of the grapes. In 2021, they conducted a special ‘Kokoromi’ series (‘Kokoromi’ = experiment in Japanese), in which they collected grapes with Botrytis cinerea from the Kerner and fermented them slowly with wild yeast. The result was a very high quality wine with a slumbering sweetness.

The wine was vinified in two ways: first, only free-run juice was placed in stainless steel tanks and fermented with wild yeasts at a temperature below 23°C for approximately one month; second, gently pressed juice and destemmed grapes were placed in plastic tanks and macerated for one month. After alcoholic fermentation to fully extract the components, the juice was pressed. Malolactic fermentation with wild lactic acid bacteria followed in stainless steel tanks. Each wine was matured in stainless steel tanks for approximately 6 months. The wine was then racked, blended and filtered. Sweet wine with a residual sugar content of 52.0 g/L.

Nutrition Facts per 100ml
Energy: 125 kcal
Fat: 0 g
 - Saturates: 0 g
Carbohydrate: 13.4 g
 - Sugar: 13.4 g
Protein: 0.1 g
Salt: 0g