The Camel Farm Challenge
―Bringing Hokkaido Wine to the World: 3

Photography by Shogo Oizumi
Text by Tomoko Tsuyuki

From the fields of Hokkaido to the dining tables of the world
Anyone who has visited Yoichi during the winter will recall that experience when they take their first sip from a glass of Legami Brut 2018 sparkling wine, marked by a clear fresh taste that is both zestily tart and richly aromatic. That’s the unique feature of Camel Farm Winery: products that bring out the character of the grape varieties in an elegant balance of fruity and robust that is the hallmark of the Yoichi terroir.

Starting with the very first vintage, successive releases from Camel Farm Winery have won prizes at competitions worldwide.

The 2014 vintage of Camel Brut Méthode Traditionelle, released in the winter of 2019, captures this best of all. Riccardo Cotarella lauds it as proof of Yoichi’s potential as a maker of “clean, tart sparkling wines that only a cool region could produce,” demonstrating that a wine with body and elegance can be made even in cold climes. “Imagine,” he exclaims, “a wine this good only three years after the winery opened!”

Camel Brut Méthode Traditionelle 2014, from the first vintage at Yoichi.

The winery’s Kerner Private Reserve was equally well received by experts from Italy and elsewhere when it made its debut in autumn 2019 at the 74th conference of Assoenologi in Matera, Italy. Each bottle represents a distillation of Yoichi’s natural environment and the vision shared by everyone at Camel Farm Winery. Someday soon the winery’s products may be found on dining tables on every continent, carrying with them a message of nature’s bounty all the way from Japan.

A bottle of Kerner Private Reserve 2018 (left), which brings out the Kerner grape’s delightful flavor with nuances of acidity, minerals, and the aroma of the casks in which it matured; and Legami Private Reserve (right), which highlights the qualities of the grape varieties used and delivers a balanced blend of fruitiness and tannin. Wines from Camel Farm Winery can be found in wine shops, group subsidiary stores, and select restaurants.

Camel Farm Winery
0120-934-210 (toll-free in Japan only)
camelfarm.co.jp
camelfarm@kaldi.co.jp
Not open to visitors

This article is an excerpt from Kateigaho International Japan Edition 2020 Spring/Summer.