Domaine Nakajima

Nakajima brings the techniques gathered from all the steps in his career to influence his philosophy in winemaking. He and his wife, Michiru, manage their little winery out of the basement of their home that reminisces with its half-timber style of Loire or Alsatian design. The winery proper is full of the remarkable inventions that Nakajima’s engineering career have taught him to create – the winery can operate as carbon neutral with its hand operated press, almost like a large scale pasta maker, the wooden electric car that Nakajima has built to carry pick bins in between the vines, and a homemade device for roasting coffee beans. The vineyard sits on a mixture of primarily clay mixed with schist, sand, and volcanic clay and ash. The active volcano, Mount Asama, towers in the background over the vineyard and has a symbiotic impact on the terroir of the surrounding valley, including the home vineyard of Domaine Nakajima. It last erupted in 2019 and smokes idly below gray skies. Compared to other areas in the Chikuma River Valley, this vineyard sits closer to the town level, around 750 meters in altitude. The plot itself is quite steep, at around a 45 degree angle, and not terraced but straight up the hillside, so that the water in the rainy season runs right down the hill. The site is broken up into rows of the four Loire varieties that they work with. A little farther away, at a slightly higher altitude, they are planting another larger vineyard dedicated to a wider variety of grapes from Alsace and Jura, as well as of other French provenance. The wines themselves reflect the trademarks of Nakajima’s career – all native yeast fermentation, no chemical sprays in the vineyard, and a combination of delicacy and concentration that is impressive given the moisture levels inherent to Nagano’s growing season. They produce a main line of estate wines produced from the Vitis vinifera that they grow, while also making a more casual series of pet nats using Japanese grapes from trusted growers elsewhere in Japan.