Kunoh Wines

Yuki Nakano farms a vineyard on the Bronte Peninsula in Upper Moutere, part of an exciting community of vignerons working in and around Nelson on the northern edge of New Zealand’s south island. Here, he is channelling a storied journey through the world of wine into his own, relatively young project to create distinctive wines characterised by depth, stability, precision and structure (and deliciousness).

Having fallen in love with wine in his youth, Yuki began working in high-end restaurants in his home town of Kyoto. Working as a sommelier there allowed his fascination, not simply with fermentation, but with the concept of really sourcing wines to match beautifully with Japanese food grew to the point where he began to consider making wine himself. A meeting in 2015 with Alex Craighead of Kindeli Wines in Nelson began not only a long term friendship but also opened the door to Yuki's journey in winemaking. Also in that year, Yuki worked at Poggio Scalette in Chianti, before taking part in his first harvest in New Zealand at Kindeli in 2016.

Yuki feels very fortunate to have been able to make wines under his own label in each place he has worked and has amassed a nice collection of Kunoh Wines from Japan, Australia and New Zealand since 2016.

Today, having since worked at Smallfry in the Barossa and at Grape Republic in Yamagata (2016, 2017) and at Fattoria Al Fiore in a consultancy role from 2018 to 2020, Yuki continues to work with Alex Craighead, in addition to farming and making his own wines, and has been living full time in New Zealand since 2020.

Yuki leased his own vineyard on the peninsula in 2020 which had essentially been abandoned, to the point where there were zero traces of synthetic inputs in the soil when Yuki applied for organic certification.Yuki's vineyard is dry grown, 20 years old, and, like much of the terroir in Upper Moutere, is predominantly clay based (a very clear feature of the wines). We don't actually work with a large number of wines grown on clay (except for the thrilling wines of Les Petites Mises), but I love very much how the wines' structure is formed by this type of soil and I really believe it's one of the great terroir types for making deep, gastronomic wines.

The wines are made and raised in a mix of barrel and stainless steel and all possess the sort of ultra fine tannin and shape on the palate that only clay soils deliver. They all have a wonderfully compact core, with lots of matter and information, open aromas and just the right amount of tension.

We are so excited about these wines - they really are the work of an exceptional young talent. And we can't wait to visit sunny Nelson soon!!

Upper Moutere, Nelson

 

Information on previous wines

  • 2022 Pinot noir, alicante bouschet and pinot blanc, grown on clay. Pinot noir was macerated for a month before being blended with the co-fermented alicante bouschet and pinot blanc, all in amphora. Well structured, with red fruit, a savoury briny character and great depth.

    2021 Pinot noir (70%), with malbec, merlot, viognier and sauvignon blanc, all grown on clay. Macerated on skins for a full month. Earthen, with darkness and extra matter from the malbec and a kiss of fruit sweetness from the merlot.

  • 2021 Pinot noir grown on clay and fermented with a mix of whole berries and crushed fruit, on skins for five days with a very small inclusion of viognier skins. Medium-bodied, complex, structured and deep, with clay-derived aromas giving way to red fruit.

  • 2022 Merlot, pinot noir, alicante bouschet and pinot blanc. Everything was fermented separately with varying degrees of maceration and in different types of vessel, before being blended into a light red wine. Vivid primary red fruit characters from the alicante bouschet, with briny salinity.

  • 2022 An orange/rosé wine made from pinot noir, pinot blanc, chardonnay, gewurztraminer and pinot gris. All the fruit except the chardonnay has been macerated as whole berries in steel for seven days before being blended with the amphora-fermented chardonnay. Fragrant with exotic fruit and more savoury clay-derived aromas, with concentrated primary fruit on the mid-palate.

  • 2021 Sauvignon blanc, viognier and direct-press pinot noir, grown on clay. White fruit comes from Marlborough, the pinot from Yuki’s vineyard in Upper Moutere. Fermented and raised in barrel before spending three months in tank prior to bottling. Ripe but restrained fruit, with minerality and a suggestion of lees.

  • 2021 Sauvignon blanc and viognier – the same fruit as the fruit in Narcissus – but macerated as whole bunches for four days before being pressed off to barrel. A bit more grit in the texture but still drinks as a textural white wine, with added nuance aromatically from the time on skins. Great depth, structure and stability.

  • 2021 Direct-press pinot noir from Yuki’s site, macerated for 10 days with viognier skins from Churton, resulting in a rosé wine. All raised in tank. A touch of chalk in the texture, inner-berry pinot fruit and a subtle impression of lees influence.