Region
Regions
Wine regions and appellations, written from our experiences in the field.
France
Champagne
The world’s most celebrated sparkling wine region — and an unlikely hotbed of natural winemaking
Champagne is both the most industrial and potentially the most natural of wine regions. Six atmospheres of pressure, heavy glass, and high acidity create ideal conditions for minimal intervention — a paradox that a new generation of grower-producers is exploiting to extraordinary effect.
Vallée de la Marne
Champagne's Pinot Meunier heartland — where the Marne river shapes terroir
The Vallée de la Marne is the westernmost of Champagne's five major districts, following the Marne river from Épernay toward Paris. It is the heartland of Pinot Meunier — the early-ripening grape that dominates this frost-prone valley. Legrand-Latour farms four biodynamic hectares here in Fleury-la-Rivière.
Champagne
Aÿ
Grand Cru Champagne village — where Pinot Noir reaches its fullest expression in the valley
Aÿ is one of Champagne's 17 Grand Cru villages and historically one of its most prestigious. Located at the eastern end of the Vallée de la Marne, its south-facing slopes produce Pinot Noir of exceptional depth and structure. Romain Henin farms Grand Cru vines here.
Champagne — Vallée de la Marne
Japan
Yamanashi
Japan’s wine heartland — home of Koshu and the oldest continuously producing wineries in the country
Yamanashi Prefecture, centered around the town of Katsunuma at the foot of Mount Fuji, is Japan’s most important wine-producing region. It is home to the Koshu grape, over eighty wineries, and Japan’s first Geographical Indication for wine.
Katsunuma / Kofu Basin
Hokkaido
Japan’s northernmost wine frontier — cold-climate viticulture on volcanic soil
Hokkaido is Japan’s most exciting emerging wine region. Lower humidity, cooler temperatures, and volcanic soils produce wines of startling freshness — from Austrian-rooted Kerner and Zweigelt to increasingly serious Pinot Noir.
Japan
An emerging wine country with a thousand-year viticultural history and a distinctive natural wine scene
Japan has been growing grapes for over a millennium, but serious wine production began in earnest in the 1870s. Today the country produces wines of genuine distinction — particularly from the Koshu grape in Yamanashi and a growing natural wine movement in Hokkaido and Nagano.