In July 2022, Sequoia Sake hosted the Nikkei Wine event featuring wine from several Nikkei owned wineries, including B. Kosuge Wines, Paulownia Wine, Mikami Vineyards, Kanpai Wines and Six Cloves Wines. A subsequent video was posted on You Tube the following month, which I eventually viewed. It piqued my interest in the wines created not just by Nikkei but also by other Asians as well.

Kenzo
Ten years ago during one our regular visits to the Napa Valley, we scheduled a tour and tasting at Kenzo Estate Winery created by Capcom founder Kenzo Tsujimoto. The 3,800 acres Capcom purchased in 1990 was originally envisioned as a company retreat, but when those plans fell through, Tsujimoto-san purchased the land from his company and in 2005, produced their first vintage.

A decade ago, Kenzo offered three levels of tasting, starting with a simple tasting, tasting plus winery tour and tasting, tour and “bento” lunch from Bouchon Bistro. We opted for the tasting and tour, which was around $60 per person. Kenzo produces three Cabernet Sauvignon blends, a Cabernet Franc, a Sauvignon Blanc and a Rosé, three different sparkling wines, which range from $86 to $280.

While the Cabernet blends were all delicious and drinkable even upon release, the tastings and wines are now well above our budget. The wine tasting, tour and tasting and Kenzo Napa bento now run between $80 to $235 per person.

Mikami Vineyards
After viewing the original Nikkei Wine video, I got on the Mikami Vineyards mail list and was subsequently offered wine to purchase, which I have done on several occasions.

The Mikami family first planted grapevines in Lodi in 1902 and was only interrupted during their incarceration in Rohwer in Arkansas during World War II. Third-generation owner Jason Mikami has produced three different red wines; a Zinfandel, a Grenache/Syrah/Mourvedre (GSM) blend and a Petite Sirah as well as two Rosé, one from Zinfandel and one from their GSM grapes, producing about 600 cases per year.

2020 Zinfandel ($42)
It tastes of semi-dried cherry, allspice and a hint of black pepper on the nose with a balanced palate flow, despite the 15.3% abv and medium finish. This paired with a wide variety of foods, including a salmon spread and perfect with charcuterie.

2022 Zinfandel Rose ($29)
Though pink hued Zinfandel or White Zinfandel gave a bad rap to Rosé wines, this Rosé is vinified totally dry with aromas of Maraschino cherries and candied orange peel with a full body and medium finish. It also has the darkest pink hue I’ve seen in a Rosé.

2023 GSM Rosé ($29)
It is very light in color with candied orange peel and dried cranberry on the nose. Very balanced on the palate with a medium short finish.

Noria Wines

Nori Nakamura originally arrived in the San Francisco in 1999 to work as the catering manager at the Nikko Hotel. While working for JAL Hotels, he obtained his sommelier certificate, but consumed mainly French and Italian wines. After arriving in the Bay Area, however, he sampled his first Californian wines and realized he needed to drink and study more California wines.

Within the year, he realized that wine was his passion and eventually enrolled at the University of California, Davis, earning his Viticulture and Enology degree in just two years. In 2010 he started Noria Wines — a take on both his name and the Spanish word for waterwheel, as “the image of water, nature and the basic energy of life associated with waterwheels overlaps with the elements of wine.” Since then, his wines were made at the Napa custom crush facility Silenus, but last year, he moved into his own winery in Berkeley.

Noria’s niche in the competitive wine market is he tries to make elegant wines that pair with Japanese cuisine. They produce four Pinot Noir, a Sauvignon Blanc that has a touch of Gewurztraminer, a Chardonnay and a sparkling wine (only available to Wine Club members at the winery) with total production about 1,500 cases per year.

2022 Sauvignon Blanc Bevill Family Vineyard ($30)
It has a very light straw color with kiwi, pear, lime and just a touch of apricot on the nose. It has a nice acid, though light on the palate with a medium short finish. Nakamura-san makes this wine in the style of daiginjo sake.

2022 Chardonnay ($34)
It has a very light straw color unlike traditional Chardonnay. It is balanced on the nose and tastes of mineral, chalk and limestone with lemon. It is balanced on the palate with good acid and mineral with a medium finish.

It is very Chablis-like. Nakamura-san makes this wine in the junmai ginjo-style of sake. This wine was the consensus winner in the Tatsumoto household.

2022 Pinot Noir Umino Vineyard ($50)
It is lighter in color, almost Beaujolais-like with dried sour cherry, a touch of cola and warm, savory spices on the nose. It is balanced with acid and fruit on the palate with a medium long finish. It is more about elegance than fruit.

Still Haven’t Sampled
There are several wineries featured on the YouTube video that I likely won’t be sampling.

Though Kanpai Wines has an interesting selection of wines, shipping to the 50th is a little out of my price range, with the six-bottle shipping fee being $174. Six Cloves Wines also has an interesting selection of wines. but the shipping fee for six bottles is $119.63. However, since both wineries are based in Northern California, I’m sure the shipping fee for Bay Area residents are significantly lower than shipping to the 50th.

Other Nikkei-Owned Wineries
Started in 2001 by the wife and husband team of Akiko and Ken Freeman, Freeman Vineyards and Winery specializes in cool climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, creating wines with more elegance than power.

They also bottle a Riesling and Chardonnay sparkling wine, producing roughly 5,000 cases of wine per year. And unlike many Nikkei owned wineries, their wines are available in the 50th.

Farther north in Oregon, Shiba-Wichern Cellars produces Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Rose and both a sparkling red and a sparkling white wine. They also are one of the few wineries that produce an Auxerrois — one of the parent grapes of Chardonnay. Winemaker/owner Akiko Shiba received her wine making degree from the University of Geisenheim in 2009, then received post graduate experience both in Germany and Oregon and started Shiba-Wichern Cellars in 2013.

Their current production is about 1,200 cases per year. Because they ship to the 50th with reasonable shipping fees, I may place an order sometime in the future.

Ryan Tatsumoto is a graduate of both the University of Hawai‘i and UC San Francisco. He is a recently retired clinical pharmacist and a budding chef/recipe developer/wine taster. He writes from Kane’ohe, HI and can be reached at gochisogourmet@gmail.com. The views expressed in the preceding column are not necessarily those of the Nichi Bei News.