Kondo Vineyard Pinot Noir 2020 750ml

Kondo Vineyard is one of the founding names of Hokkaido's natural-wine movement. Ryo Kondo planted his first vines in 2007 on the hills of Sorachi, and the domaine has since grown into a small cluster of steep, hand-worked plots around Mikasa and Iwamizawa — Tap-Kop and Moseusi among them — farmed without herbicides and vinified with wild yeast and next to no additions. The wines are made in tiny quantities and sell out within Japan on release; they seldom travel.

This 2020 Pinot Noir comes from the Tap-Kop vineyard, the estate's original hillside site. It is Hokkaido Pinot in Kondo's transparent style: pale, fragrant, light on its feet at eleven per cent alcohol, with crunchy red fruit and a savoury, herbal edge. Five years on from the harvest, the 2020 has settled into a quiet, mature register — a rare chance to taste one of Japan's cult growers with a little age.

Vintage: 2020
Cuvée: Pinot Noir (Tap-Kop vineyard)
Producer: Kondo Vineyard
Region: Sorachi, Hokkaido, Japan
Grape: Pinot Noir
ABV: 11%
Volume: 750ml