In Nagano, Japan: Domaine Sourire

This is a small winery established in June 2019 in Shiojiri City, and it is also a bakery. It was the city’s 15th winery – in 2019 three wineries were opened here and now there are 17. Katsumi Kitasawa, the owner, began growing wines 7 years ago, making use of some of the many abandoned fields in the area. He built the winery in 2019.

There are 3 hectares of vines here, spread over 8 plots. Production in 2019 was 12 tons. The winery is big enough to do some custom crush, too. Eventually the goal is to take production to 30 000 bottles.

THE WINES

Domaine Sourire Revivre Dry White 2019 Nagano, Japan
Niagara. Very aromatic and very Niagara, with a jellyish edge to the lively citrus and melon fruit. In the mouth this is grapey and lively with lovely balance and some jellyish notes. Nice purity and balance here. 88/100

Domaine Sourire Revivre Dry Red 2019 Nagano, Japan
In order to reduce the foxy hybrid character they fermented this at low temperature. Pure, aromatic, juicy and focused with a subtle jelly edge to the sweet cherry and raspberry fruit. Has a sour cherry edge with nice brisk acidity. Lovely fruit purity here. So drinkable. 87/100

Domaine Sourire Revivre Muscat Bailey A 2019 Shiojiri, Nagano, Japan
This is light, elegant and expressive with crunchy, juicy berry fruits. Some leafy cherry hints. Lovely purity here: there’s a nice green hint and the fruit is so fresh and vibrant. Delivers pleasure. 89/100

Domaine Sourire Revivre Merlot 2016 Nagano, Japan
This is quite elegant with a sweet cherry and plum fruit character as well as some fine-grained chalky structure. Finishes tight and quite dry. Some seriousness here. Subtle waxy, savoury notes on the finish. Stylish. 90/100