Lumière Koshu Sparkling, Japan

Wine Type: Sparkling white

Grape(s): Koshu

Country: Japan

Region: Yamanashi

Organic: No

Vegan: No

ABV: 10.5%

Winemaker: Shigeki Kida

Winery: Established in 1885 by Tokugi Furiya, Lumiere is a family-owned winery continuously operating for 130 years in Yamanashi prefecture which is the most famous and historical region for Japan's wine production. Since 1967, their wines have won medals in European top competitions. Lumiere is now into the 5th generation of winemakers currently with Shigeki Kida at the helm.

Surrounded by mountains and rivers, Yamanashi is the most spectacular vineyard region in Japan. Their main vineyards are located in the area of an alluvial fan. It provides preferable soil for wine making. The rocks of the vineyards are made of decomposed granite. Because of this property of the soil, this land has good drainage.

Their vineyards are cultivated using a grass cover crop and a no-tillage system. All of the grapes are harvested by hand. Then the grapes for the high class wines are hand-sorted and gently deposited into a destemmer. A gravity-flow system is used which can bring down the wines naturally from the fermentation tank to the aging barrels without mechanical pumps.

Winemaking: All of the sparkling wines are made by traditional method. This method contains two fermentation steps. The first fermentation begins after harvest and pressurage, where a still base wine is made. This is converted to sparkling wine by adding sugar. Secondary fermentation creates carbon dioxide. 

Tasting Notes: This zero-dosage sparkling Koshu has seen 20 months of ageing in bottle.

(From Sylvia Wu in Decanter) It has bruised red apple and touches of sweet spices on the nose. It has a zingy freshness (acidity at 4.7g/l) which adds brioche, yuzu and green fruits on the palate, leading to a clean, nutty finish.