Domaine Atsushi Suzuki Tomo Rouge Cuvée 18 2022 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.

Tomo Rouge is the domaine's signature red: 100% Zweigelt from its own vineyard, picked late and fully ripe, macerated for around thirty days, then pressed and rested twelve months in old barrels. Cuvée 18 is a separate lot of the 2022, bottled on its own under its cuvée number — the same black fruit and herbal nuance, with a gentle, elegant frame. A rare chance to taste the domaine's Zweigelt lot by lot. Sulfites only at bottling.

Vintage: 2022
Cuvée: Tomo Rouge Cuvée 18
Producer: Domaine Atsushi Suzuki
Region: Yoichi, Hokkaido, Japan
Grape: Zweigelt
ABV: 12.5%
Volume: 750ml