Domaine Yui A2 Pinot Noir 2024 750ml

Domaine Yui calls A2 the earliest-ripening block on Farm A and the one that demands its strictest sorting every year; for 2024 the domaine also cut back the new oak.

Tetsuya and Aya Sugiyama met as students at Hokkaido University, moved to Yoichi in 2017 and took their winemaking licence in autumn 2020 after two vintages made under contract. Before that they trained at wineries in the town, at Fujino Winery in Sapporo and at Mountford Estate in New Zealand. The name is the old farming word yui, written with the character for tying, for neighbours pooling their labour on the land. The 5 hectares are split in two: Farm T in Kurokawa, old trellised labrusca vines for pétillant, and Farm A at 812 Nobori, about 4 hectares of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay planted from 2019 on a slope that runs from south-west to north-east. No herbicide or chemical fertiliser is used, and the Instagram bio still reads simply: small family domaine in Yoichi, Hokkaido.

A2 is the second block of Farm A, planted to Dijon clones of Pinot Noir; the domaine's 2023 sheet lists 777, 667, 115 and 114 on the early rootstock Riparia Gloire. In the note that went out with the 2024 release, the Sugiyamas describe A2 as the block that ripens first on Farm A, giving aromatic fruit but carrying the highest disease pressure, so it needs the strictest sorting of any plot each year. On Instagram in October 2026 they added that the Dijon clones usually lose about half their crop to disease. For 2024 the share of new barrels was lowered from the previous year, and the sister cuvée A3 was vinified to almost the same recipe so that the two clones could be compared side by side. The fruit is farmed organically, the wine is bottled at 12.0% and 2,860 bottles were made.

In the glass

The domaine's own note, as published by Harada Shoten, describes the 2024 as softer in aroma and outline than the 2023, with colour and power held back, and places it in the umami-led, gentle, delicate style of Yoichi Pinot Noir from the 2000s, naming the Domaine Takahiko and Kimura Farm wines of that era as the reference point. The 2023, by contrast, was a hot year with early acid loss and a brick-tinged colour.

When to open

The domaine expects umami to build over about a year and calmer, matured notes to appear after about three years. Serving it lightly cool, around 14 to 16 °C, is our suggestion rather than theirs.

At the table

Our suggestion: roast chicken thigh, sautéed mushrooms or salmon baked in foil; lighter red meats such as duck or pork also suit the style.

Quick facts

Provenance

Sourced from a local distributor in Japan.

Sources: Domaine Yui (label; Instagram @domaineyui); Harada Shoten (winery release note); Grenache (2023 producer sheet); Yoichi Town wine-tourism guide; Hokkaido Prefecture winery guide; Kanoya Saketen; Nihon Wine Kenbunroku (blog)