Botanical Life

Kasai, Hyogo

People

Junpei Fukunaga and his wife Emi take care of grapes every day in Kasai City, a town rich in nature located in the Banshu Plain in the middle of Hyogo Prefecture.

Junpei, whose hometown is Himeji City in the same prefecture, spent his 20s working at a factory and DJing as a hobby. One day, however, he came across a bottle of wine at a bakery in Nishinomiya. It was the wine of Marcel Lapierre, who is also known as the father of French natural wine. From there, Junpei fell in love with the world of wine.

He learned that there are wineries in Japan that make natural wine, and he visited them himself and was inspired by their respective philosophies and visions. As he happened to be driving through Kasai City, he noticed a wide expanse of vineyards. In fact, Kasai was one of the largest grape-growing areas in the prefecture.

More coincidences happened, and he was offered a one-year internship with a table grape farmer. A year later, a small vineyard became available at the right time. Junpei decided to start from the vineyard and started farming in 2014, and in 2021, after many twists and turns, he established a winery.

Junpei trained at various wineries in Japan, including Hitomi Winery (Shiga) in 2014-2015, COCO FARM & WINERY (Tochigi) in 2016, 10R Winery (Hokkaido) in 2017, and 98wines (Yamanashi) in 2020, while winemaking on commission.

However, after seven years, just as he was excited to finally be able to make wine on his land, he faced animal damage that wiped out all of his grapes. Junpei then made up his mind. He decided to start over from the beginning with the vineyards he had spent years tending, and to vinify with grapes he had bought until the vineyards regenerated. This resulted in a relationship of trust with farmers in various regions, and led to the further expansion of the world of wine making.

Vineyard

The region has a Setouchi-style climate with warm temperatures and long hours of sunshine throughout the year, making it a popular grape-growing region. Although the altitude is not as high as 200 metres, the temperature difference between day and night occurs in autumn, when the harvest is ready. The soil is red clay and rich in iron and minerals.

Junpei rents a 50-60 year old Muscat Berry A vineyard and grows 0.7 ha in the city with no pesticides (including Bordeaux liquid) as much as possible. On the occasion of his 10th year, he decided to return the leased vineyard and plant 1.2 ha of new vineyard overlooking the sea of Awaji Island, in order to start over from scratch.

Red varieties are Muscat Baily A, Mourvedre, Syrah, Petit Verdot, Saperavi, and Gamay. White varieties are Koshu, Petit Manseng, Albariño, Romorantin, Sauvignon Blanc, and Red Myrlenium.

He respects nature on his farm and takes care of his grapes on a daily basis, not relying on pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers as much as possible, but instead attending to the life of the animals, insects, plants, and microorganisms that live in the vineyards.

Winemaking

Junpei's winery “uni” is located in the Uni district of Kasai City, Hyogo Prefecture, a scenic rural town near the nature-rich Harima Central Park.

He named it “uni” after the name of the area, as the only place where everyone can connect with each other like a family under one roof through winemaking.

He renovated only the interior of the structure originally used as a factory, leaving the exterior intact. It is divided into a vinification room where grapes are welcomed, fermented, and stored, a kitchen/dining space where customers are welcomed, and a store.From the kitchen/dining space, you can see the vineyards and countryside landscape as well as the vinification room through a large glass window, creating a space where you can feel the beauty of nature and the joy of winemaking even closer to home.

This space is not only a place for making wine, but also a place where people can connect with each other and with nature through wine, and where a new age of culture can be born and nurtured. It is a venue for dinner parties with invited chefs, exhibitions by artists of vessels and garments, and concerts by musicians.

Junpei uses wild yeast for fermentation, no added sugar or acid, no filtering, and as little sulfite as possible until bottling. Each bunch of grapes is carefully selected by hand, and the grapes are not roughly destemmed by machine, but gently destemmed by hand with a net he made himself.

In order to minimize the burden on the liquid, no pumps are used at all, including pressed juice, which is moved by gravity throughout the entire process.

The fermentation and vinification process uses fiberglass tanks and amphoras, with no active use of barrels or stainless steel. Everything is done to express the information of the land, the year the grapes spent, the fruit, and the microorganisms in a pure manner.

He names the wines born from grapes blessed and nurtured in the climate of Banshu “vin shu”. The word “vin” is derived from the French word for wine and the Japanese word “播” meaning of sowing and spreading the seed. And “shu” means “gather(集)”, “ drink(酒)”,or “region(州)”. All these Chinese characters read ‘shu’.

Junpei named his wine “vin-shu” in the hope that his wine, which sprouted from this land, will naturally connect people beyond time and place, spread, and nurture a peaceful future.

“It is our pleasure to be a part of your body and your life through food and agriculture, in harmony with nature,” says Junpei.