Pinot Noir

Grapes: Pinot Noir 100% (Yoichi, Hokkaido fruit)
Type: Red
Style: Light-to-medium bodied, elegant, cool-climate
Color: Ruby, with some translucency
Alcohol: 11.5% (confirm exact figure with producer)
Serving temperature:14-16°C

Please store in a cool, dark place.

Tasting notes

A light, elegant Pinot Noir showing the delicacy typical of cool-climate Yoichi fruit — bright red berry and cherry character, soft tannin, and fresh acidity, in keeping with the pure, ingredient-driven style Torocco Winery is known for.

Food pairing

Roast or grilled poultry, mushroom dishes, light charcuterie, and simply prepared fish or shellfish that won’t overwhelm the wine’s delicacy.

Winemaking

This Pinot Noir is grown in Yoichi, Hokkaido — one of Japan’s most respected sites for the variety — and was custom-crushed for Torocco Winery at 10R Winery in Iwamizawa (until the 2024 vintage was completed at the new Torocco winery), fermented with wild yeast and aged in barrel, following the same minimal-intervention approach (no added sulfites) the winery used for its sibling Kerner release from the same vintage. Torocco Winery itself is a small, young estate on a hillside overlooking Mt. Hakodate in Hokuto City, founded by Sapporo chef Akihiro Nagao (of the French restaurant aki nagao) together with sommelier and winemaker Sachiko Ishida, who trained at 10R Winery and at Bois Lucas in France. The couple took over a former orchard called “Frontier” in 2021 and have hand-planted more than 3,500 vines across ten-plus varieties, including their own Pinot Noir, planted in 2023.

Producer

Location