Kondo Vineyard Tap-Kop Pinot Noir 2020 750ml

Kondo Vineyard sums up 2020 in one word, bumper crop: 1,882 bottles, nearly double the farm's previous record for this wine.

Tap-Kop is the Kondo family's first vineyard, cleared in 2007 from abandoned, tree-covered land in the Tappu district of Mikasa, in the Sorachi region of Hokkaido. The name is Ainu for a raised hill. The 2.0-hectare site sits at 100–120 metres, faces east-south-east with an average slope of 15 degrees, and is farmed without tillage, chemical fertiliser or herbicide. Two brothers run the farms: Ryosuke Kondo, who planted the first vines here in 2008, and Takumi Kondo, who went independent in 2012 and is the named vineyard manager for this bottling. Since 2017 the wines have been made at Kurisawa Wines, the cellar the Kondos founded with Nakazawa Vineyard; before that they were made at 10R Winery.

The 2020 is Pinot Noir from three clones, MV6, Occident and 667, picked between 8 and 24 October. Summer heat and sunshine helped, but autumn lacked its usual day–night swing and brought rain, so grey rot appeared and volunteers sorted the crop berry by berry with tweezers. Even at 1,882 bottles the yield was about 5,000 kg per hectare, which the Kondos point out is not far from a Burgundy grand cru. The first three days of picking went into plastic tanks for three weeks of semi-carbonic maceration under their own gas; later fruit was lightly crushed and added on top. Pressing came 45 days after the first fill. Eighty percent went to barrel and, because the farm ran out of casks, 20 percent to stainless steel, for eight months. Unfiltered, unfined, 10 ppm of sulphite, bottled 23 July 2021.

In the glass

At release the Kondos described plum and cranberry, sour red small fruit, with vanilla and almond from the barrels still sitting apart, and said the stainless portion might explain a slightly closed impression. Their own tasting log is more useful: in January 2024 they found raspberry, high acid and a light mid-palate, calling it a lively northern Pinot; in February 2025 the nose had opened; in January 2026 they wrote that after the hot recent vintages the acidity of 2020 is precious, the wine still fresh and easy to drink.

When to open

The producer's window is 2024–2029. Their January 2026 note expects the acid to knit further and the berry aromas to rise about a year on, so 2027 onward looks like the sweet spot.

At the table

Our suggestion: Hokkaido lamb cooked simply, or grilled salmon with its skin on; the acidity wants a little fat.

Quick facts

Provenance

Sourced from a local distributor in Japan.

Sources: Kondo Vineyard (kondo-vineyard.com: 2020 wine page and About page); Budouya (retailer)