Domaine Nakajima
Tomi, Nagano
Domaine Nakajima is a small-scale winery founded in 2014 by Yutaka Nakajima in Tomi, Nagano, Japan.
Tomi is part of the Chikumagawa Wine Valley, one of the key regions where Nagano Prefecture actively promotes wine production.
The winery is known for its hand-worked vineyards on steep clay slopes, spontaneous fermentation with wild yeasts, and a philosophy that values gradual improvement and honest craftsmanship over efficiency or scale.
From Business to Cooking, and Wine
Before becoming a winemaker, Yutaka Nakajima worked as a businessman. As a personal interest, he attended cooking classes organized by Le Cordon Bleu, the world-renowned culinary education institution. Through cooking, he became interested in wine, purchasing bottles to pair with the dishes he prepared.
This growing interest led him to attend wine school, where he eventually qualified as a wine expert.
A Turning Point in Saint-Émilion
Around that time, Yutaka visited a hill of vineyards in Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux. Standing among the vines, he felt strongly:
“If only I could spend the rest of my life in such pleasant vineyards.”
This experience became the turning point that inspired him to pursue a life as a winemaker.
Moving to Tomi and Professional Training
In 2009, Yutaka moved to Tomi, Nagano. Since then, he has trained at several wineries whose wines he deeply admired, including Domaine des Bois Lucas in France, owned by winemaker Junko Arai, as well as Bernhard Huber in Germany and Coco Farm & Winery in Tochigi, Japan.
A shared characteristic of these wineries was their approach to vinification using wild yeasts, which would later become central to Yutaka’s own winemaking philosophy.
From First Harvest to the Founding of Domaine Nakajima
At the same time as receiving training, Yutaka personally approached local residents to search for vineyard land. He began growing wine grapes in 2010, harvested his first grapes in 2013, and commissioned Funky Château (Aoki Village, Nagano) to vinify the wine.
After making steady progress toward his goal, Yutaka officially opened Domaine Nakajima in 2014.
Climate and Location
The vineyards of Domaine Nakajima are located in Tomi, an area considered ideal for wine grape cultivation due to its low rainfall and large diurnal temperature differences.
Most of the vineyards are situated on south-facing slopes at an altitude of approximately 850 meters. The soils are rich in clay, and the slopes are so steep that tractors cannot enter. As a result, nearly all vineyard work is done by hand.
Yutaka manages the vineyards together with his family, including his wife Michiru.
Grape Varieties
The vineyards are planted primarily with European grape varieties, including: Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Chenin Blanc, Savagnin and Pinot Noir.
Farming Philosophy: Stress and Resilience
Yutaka believes strongly in the resilience of grapevines. He says:
“Grapes are strong plants. Only when they withstand various stresses and bear fruit can they become tasty wines. I want the grapes to endure a certain amount of insects, disease, and drought in order to bring out their true potential.”
Based on this philosophy, no insecticides are used in the vineyards. Insects found on branches are removed by hand, one by one, and only fungicides permitted for organic cultivation are applied.
All vineyard work is carefully planned so that everything—from pesticide use to mowing and training—is kept to the minimum necessary.
Currently, Domaine Nakajima produces only a few thousand bottles per year from its own vines. The estate owns 1.5 hectares of vineyards, and once the vines reach maturity, production is expected to reach approximately 5,000 bottles annually.
Biodiversity and the Label Story
The presence of wild birds nesting in the vineyards is an important sign of the estate’s environmental health. Their nests indicate that the vineyards provide a safe and balanced habitat.
The label of the wine “Petillant Rosé” features a model inspired by a wild bird hatchling found in a nest built among the branches of Chenin Blanc vines. The label reflects the winery’s respect for biodiversity and its gentle relationship with nature.
Winemaking Philosophy and Practices
When Yutaka makes wine, he always keeps one idea in mind:
“I don’t make wine. I make good wine.”
This mindset mirrors how he approaches cooking or hosting guests—his goal is always to make something delicious and to please those who experience it.
Of course, Yutaka is deeply committed to expressing the quality of grapes grown in his own steep, low-yielding vineyards. However, even when working with purchased grapes or lower-priced wine, his approach does not change. He always seeks to make the wine a little better than it would otherwise be.
The Challenge of Making Wine from Kyoho
One representative example of Yutaka’s philosophy is the Petillant Naturel Rosé, which he has produced every year.
The project began in 2013, before the winery officially opened. At the time, Yutaka faced the challenge of how to create a unique wine using Kyoho, a Japanese table grape variety. Rather than producing wine simply for volume, he wanted to make something original and genuinely tasty—something that would never remain unsold.
Concentration, Lees, and Sparkling Style
Because table grapes contain a high level of water, reducing water content is essential to concentrate flavor. This can be achieved either by late harvesting or by drying grapes in the shade. Late harvesting, however, places significant stress on the vines.
Yutaka also wanted to produce a cloudy wine with lees, so that the wine would not taste thin, and to make it sparkling, allowing the lees to remain suspended. In addition, he aimed to use no additives and rely on spontaneous fermentation, resulting in the gentle flavor profile he prefers.
Through this reasoning, Yutaka arrived at Petillant Naturel Rosé 2014, a wine that embodied all of these ideas.
From that point on, he continued a process of trial and error each year.
Tools, Trial and Error
In the early days, grapes were crushed by foot through plastic sheets, but the grape skins proved too hard for this method to be effective.
Around 2016, Yutaka built his own grape crusher using materials from a home improvement store. This crusher creates only a single crack in each grape skin and has been refined and used every year since. After crushing, the grapes are further adjusted by gently crushing them with boots.
A hydraulic basket press, introduced in 2015, has been used for pressing. In 2021, the outer frame was changed from wood to stainless steel.
During the day-long pressing process, juice had been absorbed into the wooden frame, raising hygiene concerns. Switching to stainless steel was considered safer, and Yutaka felt that the resulting wines became somewhat cleaner in taste. Improving tools and equipment remains one of his personal pleasures.
Evaluation, Growth, and the Future
When he first began making wine, Yutaka evaluated each finished wine solely by his own standards and reflected those lessons in the following year’s production. Today, he aims to create wines that will also be appreciated by experienced drinkers, gradually raising his evaluation criteria as a source of motivation.
In recent years, Domaine Nakajima has been receiving an increasing number of orders from abroad. Seeing how his wines are received overseas has become one of Yutaka’s great pleasures.
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