100% Koshu from the Iwade vineyard in Yamanashi City. The name "Ortum" was chosen for the wine as it means "ascent" in Latin, and Mercian believe this wine goes above and beyond people's perceptions of Koshu.
Production
Iwade Vineyard is located on the right bank of the Fuefuki River, which flows through Yamanashi City in the northeastern part of the Kofu Basin, on a river terrace with sandy gravel and good drainage. Grapes were hand harvested from their overhead trellis's and fermented in stainless steel tanks for 14 days. The wine was then ages for a further 4 months in tank. only 1,100 bottles were made.
Château Mercian Iwade Koshu Ortum 2021 (12 bottles case)
Tasting notes
The color is a brilliant pale yellow. This wine has a complex aroma of tropical fruits such as ripe grapefruit and white peach, Japanese citrus such as yuzu, kabosu and sudachi, and flowers such as jasmine. It has a round, rich acidity and minerality, and the body derived from Koshu. And the carbon dioxide gas generated by fermentation further enhances the coolness.
Food match
White fish sashimi, flatfish carpaccio with grapefruit, codfish with grated radish.
Info
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ABV
11%
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CASE/BOTTLE SIZE
12 x 75cl
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REGION/COUNTRY
YAMANASHI, JAPAN
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GRAPE
KOSHU 100%
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CLOSURE
SCREWCAP
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WINEMAKER
MITSUHIRO ANZO
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APPELLATION
YAMANASHI CITY
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ALLERGEN INFO
CONTAINS SULPHITES AND NO OTHER ALLERGENS
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Meet the producer
As grapes were never indigenous to Japan all grapevines had been introduced to the region with the movement of the spice route and silk roads over 2,000 years. It is believed that about 1,300 years ago grapevines were introduced to Japan where the climate was too hot, cold, wet – too extreme – to grow grapes for wine.
Ultimately the existing grape variety most successfully grown in Japan became known as Koshu, which was the then name for the prefecture in which it grew. This prefecture then took the name of a Japanese prince and became Yamanashi, which remains the principal region producing Koshu. Responsible today for 40% of all Japanese grown wine grapes, it is believed to be the naturalised hybrid of a Georgian grape variety. Ampelographers continue to isolate the DNA of Koshu, but we do not actually know, outright, its source. What we do know is that it is a lurid pink on the vine, generally grown in the local tana method (overhead bamboo trellis).
Château Mercian grows Chardonnay, Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, whilst experimenting with Albarino, Mencia and others, and has always shared its long experience of producing wine in Japan with every other producer in the region. Château Mercian is the oldest established winery in Japan, starting out in 1870 having sent two young men to France to understand wine making in the European tradition. Indeed the descendants of these two men are still growing Koshu for Mercian today.
Koshu, like many things Japanese, is all about subtlety of flavour, texture and the wine being part of a greater organoleptic experience than the wine itself, so imagine drinking this with a slurpy bowl of hot yum from a chilly noodle shop in the hills. It's part of the whole, not the whole, therefore the fruit is not overt, it's more about texture, acidity and finish rather than outright fruit flavour.