Hello, everyone.
It has already been 20 years(?) since I began fully supporting Hokkaido wines.
I am Sayuri Arai from the Hokkaido Wine Cheer Squad.
This winter has been properly cold, just like Hokkaido of the past, but the way the snow falls seems to have changed.
Sapporo also gets enough snow to be called "a city like no other where people live despite such heavy snowfall," but this year there is still hardly any snow on the roads, and it looks as though there might be no snow for the Snow Festival?!
In other areas, particularly regions with heavy snowfall, an incredible amount of snow falls at once, making snow clearing and daily life extremely tough at times.
Roofs also become heavy with snow, making "clearing snow off roofs" essential in some areas, and I only hope that everyone stays safe.
At this time of year, the vineyards are completely buried in snow and in a state of hibernation.
It is precisely because they can completely hibernate under the snow until spring that fine grapes can be grown in Hokkaido.
After harvesting, once pruning is finished, the grapevines are detached from the trellis wires, and their canes are lowered down.
As you can see by looking at the grape canes on the left and right, the canes detached from the wires are bent into an inverted V-shape.
This is the wisdom of predecessors: even when snow accumulates, the vine acts like a spring, giving it elasticity so it is difficult to break.
Recently, the way the snow falls has also been changing, so vine training and this work are gradually shifting little by little.
I would also love for you to see the winter appearance of pergola-trained grapes, which is rarely seen in areas outside Hokkaido.
Can you see that the snow has accumulated up to just below the topmost wire? The canes of pergola-trained grapes that you commonly see are trained to creep along the top of these wires, right? In Hokkaido's pergola cultivation, snowfall is an absolute given, so in many pergola systems, there are no grape canes on top of the wires like this; instead, just like in vertical shoot positioning (trellis) systems, the canes are removed from the wires and lowered down.
And during the winter, they hibernate.
☆The Work of a Winery
For everyone at the winery, field work is brought to a forced stop by the snow, making this a season with a little bit of rest time.
Even so, there are still plenty of things to do lol
They are quite busy with ongoing fermentation checks, preparations for releases, and events offered from various quarters.
| Winemaking | Bottling | Events |
There are also plenty of Hokkaido wine events coming up!
Everyone, please go meet the producers!
Let's go meet the wines!!
Click here for event details ▶︎ Nihon Budokan de Hokkaido Wine
Click here for event details ▶︎ Maker's Dinner "MaroWines"
