There is a new Japanese natural wine portfolio in the USA from D-I. In mid-May, the company held a tasting at Rule of Thirds in Brooklyn featuring Coco Farm and Winery, and Domaine Tetta—you’ve seen Tetta, with the cute panda bear labels?
The first substantial collection of natural Japanese wines was introduced by José Pastor about three years ago. His focus was the northernmost island of Hokkaido, where weather conditions make it more possible to farm fragile vinifera organically than in other Japanese regions. Hokkaido has a lot of sunshine, wind and reduced typhoon and humidity pressure. Outside of Hokkaido, working with hybrids such as Koshu, Riesling Lion or Muscat Bailey A, is the wiser option if organic farming is more important than grape choice. Nevertheless, some domains, such as the well-respected Beau Paysage, are closely tied to their so-called ‘noble’ grapes, while others, like Coco and Tetta, strike a balance between the two and accept that they’ll have to struggle to obtain organic certification.
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