Hokkaido
北海道 岩見沢市
Official Website
OFFICIAL WEBSITEirenka.co.jp“Irenka” means ideal or hope in the Ainu language,
and it is also the name of the wine-grape vineyard we began in Hokkaido in 2012.
Our first step was to plant 3,800 Pinot Noir vines on roughly one hectare of fallow land.
Irenka’s vineyard is located in the Kamihoro area of Kurisawa, Iwamizawa City, Hokkaido, surrounded by beautiful rolling hills. The vineyard began in 2012 with the planting of vines on 1.3 hectares of previously unused farmland. On a gentle south-facing slope, 58 north-south rows were planted at intervals of one meter between vines and two meters between rows. Following later replanting and additional planting, around 4,000 vines, currently three to five years old, are growing there.
Irenka aims to make “slow wine,” guided by the same philosophy as Slow Food.\n\nThe first priority is to grow healthy, high-quality grapes using cultivation methods that are as sustainable as possible. From there, rather than thinking of wine as something we simply “make,” we seek to coexist with nature and follow its course so that the terroir of Sorachi—a region we believe has exceptional potential as a Japanese Pinot Noir growing area—can express itself as distinctive wine. Our role is to intervene as little as possible, while carefully watching over and nurturing the wine.
PHOTO — NIHONWINE.JP editorial
SOURCE — NIHONWINE.JP editorial