Japan’s Burgeoning Viticulture: Legendary Wine Region Burgundy and Rising Star Yoichi Team Up

Stunning Achievement by an Unknown Wine Region

“Can you tell if the wine in this unlabeled bottle came from Burgundy, or from Hokkaidō?” This question, posed at a February 8 event in the village of Gevrey Chambertin in the famed wine-growing region of Burgundy, filled the venue with whispers. The event was part of the “France/Japan Wine Cross View” symposium. The conference was kicked off by a ceremony where Christophe Lucand, mayor of Gevrey Chambertin, and Saitō Keisuke, mayor of Yoichi, Hokkaidō, signed a friendship accord between the two towns.

This so-called “wine accord” encourages exchange centered on wine production to encourage development for both sides. It also includes a provision for cooperation between the University of Burgundy and Hokkaidō University, both of which have wine research institutes. This accord between an essentially unknown Japanese wine region and a global wine superpower has been called “an achievement equal to a little leaguer playing alongside Ohtani Shōhei.”

Mayor Saitō Keisuke of Yoichi, Hokkaidō (right) and Mayor Christophe Lucand of Gevrey Chambertin at the signing of their “wine accord” on February 8, 2025. (© Ukita Yasuyuki)

Readers may not be aware that some Japanese wine is already rated quite highly internationally. A new epoch for domestic winemaking kicked off in February of 2020, when famed Danish restaurant Noma—repeatedly named Best Restaurant in the World—put Yoichi winery Domaine Takahiko Soga’s Nana-Tsu-Mori Pinot Noir 2017 on its wine list.

One force behind this shift has been the global trend toward healthier and lighter dining, as well as a growing interest in Japanese culture overall, including Japanese cuisine. In his evaluation of Nana-Tsu-Mori, Noma’s head sommelier Ava Mees List described it as slightly herbal and soft, saying that “it impressed me as a Japanese expression of the pinot noir varietal.”

Soga Takahiko founded his winery in Yoichi in 2010 and has come to be a leading figure in regional wine making. (© Ukita Yasuyuki)

What Burgundy Sees in Yoichi

Mayor Saitō took office in 2018 and has leveraged wine as a tool to reinvigorate Yoichi, which has been suffering from a falling population. The town has begun offering subsidies to farmers who switch to growing grapes for wine making and for purchasing fermentation equipment. He was also involved in setting up the Noma selection.

“With a solid core, we can bring people and investment to the town,” Saitō says. “Wine has that potential. Burgundy is a good example for us. It has a similarly small population to Yoichi, but it has gathered wealth and people from all over the world.”

Yoichi has a population of 16,941 people as of January 2025, while the 2022 population figures for Beaune, Burgundy’s wine center, was 20,233.

Saitō spent two years trying to make this “wine accord” happen. Jean-Yves Bizot, the head of famed Burgundy winery Domaine Bizot, visited Hokkaidō in 2023. Saitō was fervent in showing him the potential of Yoichi-made wine, eventually convincing him to become a bridge between the town and France. Saitō developed this “wine diplomacy” without once setting foot in Burgundy.

It was not an easy thing to arrange this accord between so famed a winemaking town as Gevrey Chambertin and the globally unknown wine region of Yoichi. The area, which has few people steeped in grape growing and fermenting knowledge, obviously has much to gain from the exchange. But what can Yoichi offer to Gevrey Chambertin in exchange?　

Saitō’s key idea is that “Yoichi is going to become a second Oregon.” The American state of Oregon, now known as a top-class winemaking area, invited many of Burgundy’s most important winemakers in 1987 in an effort to raise the level and recognition of its local wine. Now, the annual Oregon Pinot Noir Celebration has now become a draw for wine lovers from all over the world.

The United States is the world’s leading wine consumer, so the attraction for the French side was the hope that establishing a good relationship with Oregon could improve the image and accessibility of Burgundy wine nationwide. That would bring tangible benefits to Burgundy’s winemakers.

Local media, producers, and lovers from Japan and France both attended the Gevrey Chambertin hosted cross-country wine symposium. (© Ukita Yasuyuki)

In his negotiations, Saitō beseeched his counterparts to recognize Yoichi’s potential and to take the area’s wine growers under their wing. “I asked to work together to make good pinot noir in the cold climate of Hokkaidō.”

Pinot Noir is Burgundy’s flagship red wine varietal, but the advance of global warming is putting the future of the world’s winemaking regions into question. Burgundy, with its historically cool climate, is no exception, and recent years have seen serious incidents of grape vines withering in the heat, or grapes ripening prematurely before they develop the phenols so essential to wine flavor.

On the other hand, Yoichi’s current growing season temperature range has risen to the same as Burgundy once enjoyed. Where there were only a pair of wineries 15 years ago, now there are 19. Yoichi has already achieved success in growing other fruit varieties, like apples, and now has grown to account for half of all the wine grapes grown in Hokkaidō.

Famed Wineries Expanding into Hokkaidō

Among the symposium presenters was Etienne de Montille, head of Domaine de Montille, a winery that has been in Volnay, Burgundy for nearly 300 years. In search of a new growing base in the face of climate change, he came to Hokkaidō to investigate the similarity to Burgundy’s climate. In 2017, he opened the de Montille & Hokkaidō project with an expansion into Hakodate, Hokkaidō.

When de Montille came to Japan in 2015 to observe, he was impressed by the efforts of Japan’s vigneron, producers who grow grapes and ferment them into wine. With its hot, humid summers, Japan is not exactly ideal for grape cultivation. Producers are always fighting with nature, and it is no easy thing to secure healthy vines and quality fermentation equipment. And yet, Japan’s winemakers go on despite those obstacles, struggling to make the best wine they can. This dedicated effort charmed de Montille. “I felt it was a good place to make use of pioneering spirit myself.”

The symposium also featured a fascinating master class comparing wines from Burgundy and Japan, led by master sommelier Takamatsu Tōru and Master of Wine Steve Charters. Takamatsu is a supporting member of a Yoichi organization using winemaking for local revitalization and trained in winemaking at Domaine Takahiko Soga until this spring.

Takamatsu Tōru explaining Japanese wine at the Master Class, along with the list of wine tasted during the class. (© Ukita Yasuyuki)

Domaine Takahiko Soga’s Yoichi-made Nana-Tsu-Mori Pinot Noir (left), which sparked Japanese wine’s sudden international rise; a Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru submitted for the Master Class by influential Gevrey Chambertin winery Domaine Drouhin-Laroze. (© Ukita Yasuyuki)

After introducing three red wines each from Japan and Burgundy, the class leaders finally poured a seventh glass and asked participants to guess which region produced it. It had a deep aroma with red fruit and herbal notes, and was a fresh, juicy wine. The attendees were split down the middle, half saying it was from Burgundy, and half from Hokkaidō.

Etienne de Montille discussing de Montille and Hokkaidō project’s Surprise 2019. (© Ukita Yasuyuki)

The answer given to the expectantly watching audience was de Montille and Hokkaidō project’s Surprise 2019. That year, the winery had not yet grown its own grapes, and the winery facilities were not yet complete. The wine used grapes grown by major Yoichi vintner Kimura Vineyarad fermented at contract fermenter 10R Winery in Hokkaidō's Sorachi region. The revelation surely opened everyone’s eyes to the potential of Japanese wine in general, and Hokkaidō wine in particular.

(Originally published in Japanese. Banner photo: Grape arbors covering the hillsides outside Yoichi. In the distance is the town’s symbol of Cape Shirepa. © Ukita Yasuyuki.)