Tomi, Nagano

Aperture Farm and Winery is a small, independent winery located in Tomi, Nagano.

Founded by former photographer Ryo Tanabe, the winery focuses on organic viticulture and minimal-intervention winemaking.

It is particularly known for its challenge to Kyoho grapes, a traditional Japanese variety rarely used for fine wine.

Ryo Tanabe was born in 1981 in Hasuda, Saitama. After studying photography at university in the United States, he returned to Japan and worked for a trading company and later a liquor shop. In 2010, he moved to Tomi, Nagano, with the intention of becoming a winemaker.

The name Aperture comes from the aperture of a camera. It expresses his desire to focus fully on winemaking and vegetable farming. Some of the photographs used on the wine labels were taken by Tanabe himself using his iPhone.

Tanabe first encountered wine at the age of 24 while studying photography in the U.S. When he returned to Japan, he felt that making a living as a photographer would be difficult. The main skill he brought back with him was English, which he used in his job at a trading company. There, he was exposed to a wide range of wines from around the world.

He later changed jobs to a liquor company, where he specialized in wine and became responsible for Japanese wines. As he visited wineries across the country and walked through vineyards, his interest gradually shifted from selling wine to making it himself.

“I liked creating things. I wanted to put my own work into the world, rather than selling someone else’s products.”

A turning point came when he visited Nakazawa Vineyard in Hokkaido. He was struck by the diversity of living organisms in the vineyard and decided to become a vigneron himself.

The vineyard currently covers approximately 2 hectares at altitudes between 600 and 800 meters.

Drawing on his experience in organic vegetable farming, Tanabe cultivates the vineyards in an extremely bio-friendly way.

Only Bordeaux mixture is used. No chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or fungicides are applied.

Previously, only Merlot was planted. Today, the vineyard includes Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Kyoho, and Delaware. Among these, Chenin Blanc is considered especially promising and will be expanded in the future.

Tanabe believes that 80–90% of a wine’s character is determined at harvest. For this reason, he focuses on creating an environment where grapes can grow with minimal stress. Some grape clusters are grown under umbrellas to protect them from rain.

Because wind direction can still expose grapes to moisture, diseased fruit must be removed by hand. Although this process is time-consuming, the resulting stress on the vines is believed to contribute to greater complexity in the wine.

No insecticides are used. Tanabe carefully records the timing and amount of Bordeaux mixture sprayed each year. Materials used in the vineyard are selected for long-term use. Rain umbrellas are reused for many years and are not burned after disposal.

Cut grass is left in the vineyard as fertilizer, and pruned branches are crushed and returned to the soil after diseased parts are removed. Through continued experimentation, Tanabe has gradually established his own farming philosophy.