Hello, I am Kenjiro Kagami of Domaine des Miroirs. As we are shipping our wine for the first time, I would like to introduce our winery in my own words.
After living and working in Alsace for about six and a half years, I moved to the village of Grus in the south of the Jura department at the end of February 2011, bought a vineyard, and started life as a wine producer with my wife. Since moving to France in 2001, I have moved to Burgundy, Northern Rhone, and Alsace to learn French, wine making as an academic discipline, and actual wine making. The final destination was Jura.
Jura is generally known as the land of Vin Jaune. However, I feel that because this image is too strong, other things are not talked about much. The soil can be described as a land formed by the limestone bedrock formed during the Jurassic period, with layers of marl, clay, etc., changing in proportion, covering the bedrock depending on the site conditions. This characteristic limestone and marl highlight the individuality of this land, and I thought that this individuality could be fully reflected and maintain its uniqueness in both traditional Jura wines that have undergone oxidative aging and wines that do not undergo oxidative aging. The appeal of these features was a major factor in choosing Jura as a land.
Our vineyard is a single plot of about 3.2 hectares, overlooking the village of Grus and isolated from other fields. This vineyard is surrounded by forests on three sides, where the traditional landscape spreads. Until the 1950s, grapes were planted by generations in this field, but due to factors such as the difficulty of work and low yield due to the steep terrain, people gave up grape growing and moved to fields where work was easier, and gradually absorbed into the forest. The field that had been abandoned for cultivation and had been reforested since the 1950s, when herbicides did not exist, and has not been sprayed with herbicides even once since 2005 when grapes were replanted, was the environment we aspired to. A variety of plants are naturally growing, and various flowers are in full bloom according to the season. This field is one section (strictly speaking, about 2.5ha and about 0.7ha separated by a small path), but the soil has several personalities due to the difference in small uplifts and the composition of the topsoil.
Long and short until now, meeting various people and touching each person's senses, and the many experiences gained from working and living together at past work places are irreplaceable assets and independence It was very meaningful in having my own thinking and stance toward wine making, and in retrospect, I feel that I was more influenced mentally than operationally. The thinking and stance I hold is based on what is currently there, and I expect myself to change in a good way in the future.
