Domaine Mie Ikeno Merlot 2022 750ml

Twenty-four days of picking, 19 September to 12 October 2022, for a Merlot whose Chardonnay neighbours were in the cellar within three.

Ikeno's blog kept a day-by-day log of 2022 on the Les pas du chat hill. Snow fell on 22 March and again in the first week of April; cherry blossom opened on 6 April after near-freezing nights, bud-break came on 22 April in sudden heat, and on 2 May the Yatsugatake and Southern Alps summits were white once more. Flowering began on 7 June, almost on the usual schedule, the rainy season ended early, and by 1 July the vineyard was above 30°C. Merlot began to colour on 17 August. On 25 August she wrote that the fruit had been almost flawless to that day, that the worry was a stalled autumn-rain front, and that a landslide alert for Hokuto had led the evening news. Typhoon No. 14 passed on 20 September, and she praised the grapes that endured it; on 30 September the Merlot was still hanging under a clear sky, the picking far from over.

The winery's note for the 2022, as reproduced by Hoshino Resorts at the July 2024 release, gives fermentation in French oak barrels, 18 months of ageing and 12 percent alcohol. The fruit comes from the estate's own three planted hectares at 750 metres, on volcanic-ash soil mixed with sand and clay; Merlot is roughly 30 percent of the 6,300 vines, set out in 2007 on the south-east slope and in 2008 on the south-west slope. Every lot moves by gravity through the three-level cellar, from press floor to tank to barrel, without a pump.

The year was also the domaine's fifteenth. On 18 July 2022 Ikeno gathered forty guests at Conrad Tokyo, where the chefs and sommeliers matched kaiseki, sushi and teppanyaki to her wines, the 2017 Merlot among them. Her winery was built in 2011 on land she cleared from 2007, after a Montpellier oenology degree and cellar work in Burgundy and southern France.

In the glass

The winery's note for the 2022 Merlot, as quoted by Hoshino Resorts, opens on myrtille and cassis, then turns to a strong, layered scent of herbs and eucalyptus. The palate is described as rounded in texture with firm acidity, fine, tightly knit tannin and a clear astringency. Dry, 12 percent alcohol.

When to open

The winery gives 15 to 17°C for serving. No window is published for the 2022; its note for the 2021 Merlot said five to ten years, and our suggestion is to treat this vintage the same way.

At the table

At Risonare Yatsugatake the 2022 is served at OTTO SETTE under a vegetable-led 'Vino e Verdura' menu. Our suggestion: grilled duck breast, or aubergine with miso.

Quick facts

Provenance

Sourced from a local distributor in Japan.

Sources: Domaine Mie Ikeno (website, blog, online store, label); Hoshino Resorts Risonare Yatsugatake release (quoting the winery); nihonwine.jp