Domaine Atsushi Suzuki Higure no Shizuku to Akanegumo Rosé 2024 750ml

Domaine Atsushi Suzuki farms 5.6 hectares on a gentle east-facing slope in Yoichi, Hokkaido — 60 to 80 metres up, on weathered gravel, sand and clay over andesite bedrock. Atsushi Suzuki took the vineyard over from conventional growers and has moved it steadily toward organic farming: grass cover, no tillage, Bordeaux mixture as the main treatment, and the domaine's own wines made only from the parcels farmed without synthetic sprays. The cellar is a renovated early-Shōwa stone warehouse once used for apples; there is no pump and no destemmer, only a small basket press, barrels and resin tanks. Fermentation is with wild yeast, nothing is added but a minimal dose of sulfites at bottling, and the wines are never chaptalised or acidified. One of the quiet benchmarks of Yoichi's natural-wine generation, made in tiny quantities and hard to find even within Japan.

Higure no Shizuku to Akanegumo — “drops of dusk and crimson clouds” — is the domaine's rosé from its Yoichi parcels, under the label with the two figures watching the evening sky. Made in the same hands-off way as the reds, wild-fermented with nothing added before bottling, it is a dry, savoury rosé for the table rather than the terrace, with the cool-climate lift that marks everything from this cellar. The 2024 is the current release, sealed under crown cap, fresh and just settled in bottle.

Vintage: 2024
Cuvée: Higure no Shizuku to Akanegumo Rosé (日暮れの雫と茜雲 Rosé)
Producer: Domaine Atsushi Suzuki
Region: Yoichi, Hokkaido, Japan
Grape: Estate blend
ABV: 12.5%
Volume: 750ml