The place is located about 20 minutes by train from the Sapporo airport and 10 minutes on foot from the local train station.
山梨のグレイスワインが、今から30年ほど前、石狩南部に自生するハスカップという果実を産業に繋げるためにワイン造りを依頼されたのがきっかけである。
It is a northern branch of Grace Wine (Yamanashi Prefecture) that started out around 30 years ago, upon a request from the local authorities in Hokkaido to help produce wine from a local wild berry called Hascup. Hascup (Haskap) are members of the honeysuckle family, which produce elongated berries with high levels of antioxidents. The plant, itself, produces for over 50 years.
三澤社長自らご案内頂いた。オーストリアとほぼ同じ経度にあるこの地で、山梨とは違うどんなワイン造りが出来るのか、というところからスタートし、当時は函館から入って来たものの、栽培が上手く行かないピノノワールを農家が引っこ抜く寸前に食い止める事ができたという。 醸造家なら作ってみたいというピノノワール。その思いが余市のブドウ農家木村さんに通じ、契約農家となった。車で2時間ちょっとのところにある。
Mr. Misawa, the owner showed me the place. The winery is roughly located along the same longitude as Austria. His predecessor and grandfather, took the offer by the Hokkaido government as his company’s opportunity to learn to grow different types of grapes that they'd never harvested in Yamanashi before; grapes that could survive in a cold climate. There were many grape farmers in Hokkaido at the time, mostly growing table grapes. His grandfather was able to establish purchase contracts with the local grape farmers in the area who then were willing to plant and cultivate Kellner, Pino Noir and a few others popular varietals for him.
2014年10月の時点で北海道には22の醸造所があるという。そして毎年増え続けているという。先日北海道のワイナリーを題材にした映画も公開され、北海道のワイナリーは注目を浴びている。
There are currently 22 winemaking places in Hokkaido and the number keeps growing every year. A major motion picture featuring a Hokkaido winery was released recently, so wineries in Hokkaido have been getting a lot of attention these days.
The Chitose Winery is housed in an old stone warehouse. The building is over 50 years old and used to be a rice storage space.
人間が作っているつもりでいるが実はそうではないのかも。人にできるのは 酵母が気に入ってくれる環境をどれだけ上手に整えられるかということなのかなと三澤氏はいう。
“Although all we try to do is to make a good wine,” said Mr. Misawa, “it is not the human that does the trick. The best we can do is prepare a suitable environment for yeast to ferment wine. The more the yeast likes the environment, the better the wine gets.”
イメージはファーストラン(しぼらないで自然に落ちてくるぶどうの汁)のようなクリアなワイン、コクや香りなど、足りない分をオリやプレスしたもので補うのだそうだ。
He wants to make a clear pure wine as possible which comes from the first press, and then add few elements like pressed juice or skin contact techniques to give more depth and flavors to the wine.
スパークリングワインの瓶内2次発酵。スパークリングワインにはいくつかの製法があるがここでは伝統的なシャンパーニュ方式を採用している。スパークリングワインは大体5気圧だそうだが、瓶内のオリ引きする際抜栓するので、6気圧まであげてゆく。
The second round of the in-bottle fermentation process for their sparkling wine. There are few methods of making sparkling wine but they apply the method called traditional techniques which are the same method of making Champaign and it requires time and labor. They ferment their wine until it reaches 6 atmospheric pressures, so that they can keep an average atmospheric pressure of 5 even after they draw the sediments out of the bottle.
Any idea how to draw off sediments? This is how. The picture on the left, those standing bottles, will be the next to be processed once they reach the desired internal atmospheric pressure. By putting the bottles upside down, the sediments slowly accumulate in the neck of the bottle. Now, how do you just take the sediments out of a face down bottle without spilling any wine?
なんと口だけ凍らせるのだそうだ。昔の人はよく考えたものだ。これはシャンパーニュと同じトラディショナル式。
Well, once all of the sediment has gathered in the neck of the bottle, you freeze just the neck of the bottle. Whoever came up with this idea back in old days must have been a genius!
この板には120本立てられる。瓶を時々回しながらオリをゆっくりと落とし、口だけ凍らせてオリ引きをする。この手間暇があるので、トラディショナル式のスパークリングワインは高価になる訳だ。納得。
120 bottles can be set on one board. Each bottle needs to be rotated occasionally, to make sure all of the sediments are gathered into the bottleneck. Then the bottleneck is super chilled allowing the frozen sediments to be pulled out from the bottle and the bottle to be sealed again, this time with cork and wired metal cap. When you think about the process, it is no wonder that sparkling wines using traditional method can get pricey. They are handcrafted.
左から辛口ケルナー、2012ピノノワール、甘口ケルナー、レイトハーベストのケルナー。
I tasted four wines that day: Kellner Dry, 2012 Pino Noir, Kellner Sweet and late harvest Kellner.
2012のピノ。苦労したワインだという、色がかなり薄いが香りはシッカリと華やかに開いている。
ケルナーの辛口は甘い青りんごの香り。酸味が強く、すっきりとしていた。個人的にはケルナーは甘口の方が味わいがあると思っている。甘口とナイトハーベストはどちらもケルナーのリッチな味わいとすっきりとした余韻があった。
“Making Pino Noir in 2012 was a lot of struggle,” he said. He couldn't get the color he wanted. It definitely was a Pino Noir when I tasted it. It had a typical flowery scent and it seemed likely that now was the best time to drink it. The Kellner Dry had a sweet fruity taste like green apples with a slightly sharp acidic taste. I personally favor the sweet Kellner as I think the sweet type is richer. Both sweet types were rich in flavor and did not linger on my tongue too long.
苦労話など降り混ぜながら解説して頂くテイスティングはとても興味深かった。
It was interesting to listen to the story of each wine while tasting them.
I bought four. Pino noir 2013 and 2012, Kelner dry and late harvest.
2013ピノ、2012ピノ、辛口ケルナーとレイトハーベスト。
http://www.chitose-winery.jp |