Coco Farm and Winery - Lessons for Life

A year after 9/11 I left Gotham for Japan to study Japanese food. My first three months was working the harvest at Coco Farm and Winery. Located just north of Tokyo, the winery is staffed by mentally disabled adults from the Cocoromi Gakuen school located on the property of the winery. The staff are sincere, hard-working, and my heroes. I wish that I could be more like them.



http://archive.metropolis.co.jp/tokyo/603/dining.asp

The changing of the leaves has a name among wine makers: vendage. It marks the arrival of fall and signals that the grape harvest is near. It’s also the perfect time for wine-lovers, or those who wish to be, to visit a winery.

The historical heart of winemaking in Japan is Yamanashi Prefecture, but your first visit should be to Coco Farm and Winery in Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture, where I worked the harvest three years ago.

American oenologist Bruce Gutlove is considered by many to be the best winemaker in Japan. A graduate of the University of California at Davis, the premier winemaking school in America, and with a depth of experience earned at wineries such as Robert Mondavi and Cakebread, Gutlove has created a dynamic program.

Gutlove’s portfolio is as wide-ranging as they come. From sparkling to sweet wines, using grapes as diverse as domestic varieties like koshu to the popular chardonnay, there is something for everyone. Recent products include the Cocoromi Series, which explores new grape varieties, promises vineyard sources and atypical wine-making styles. My favorite is made from a steely, crisp grape of Germanic origin called kerner from Hokkaido.

Coco Farm and Winery is partially staffed by mentally disabled adults from neighboring Cocoromi Gakuen, where 90 students live and work. Its founder, Noboru Kawata, started the school in 1969 with values based on hard work and a simple, natural life. The students work seven days a week, either in the vineyards or harvesting shiitake mushrooms.

“There are not enough of those people in the world,” says Gutlove, who compliments the students’ hard work and honesty. They appreciate having visitors, so be sure to greet them if you get
the opportunity.

Even though Japan does not rank high on most people’s lists of the world’s top wine producers, Bruce’s team continuously explores grapes that work in this often hot and humid environment, and Coco Farm produces wines from 19 grape varieties harvested from six prefectures.

“Coco Farm and Winery is on the cutting edge of winemaking in Japan,” writes Kenji Hodgson, a Japanese-Canadian wine writer volunteering with this fall’s harvest. “I don’t mean they’re stocked with the latest roto-fermenters, but rather they are dedicated to understanding the different terroirs of Japan, and using this knowledge to raise the bar of grape and wine quality in spite of climactic obstacles—not an easy task in the face of extreme weather, the likes of monsoons and typhoons.
The Harvest Festival each fall (this year Nov 19-20) announces the release of the “Coco Nouveau,” a Syrah-based wine akin to Beaujolais Nouveau (i.e. made in a fruity, approachable style), with entertainment, food and, of course, wine. Last year a staggering 15,000 visitors celebrated the harvest.

If you want to avoid the crowds, the winery is open year-round (except over the Obon summer holiday and New Year’s), with tours that introduce the wines, the winemaking process and the veranda café overlooking the steep vineyards. It’s not Europe, but Japan’s vineyards offer pleasures of their own.

“When I told friends that I was going to Japan to study winemaking, their first question was, ‘Why not France or Italy?’” concludes Hodgson. “Here I feel as though I am witnessing the progress of a wine region first-hand through an exciting, aspiring operation.”

611 Tajima-cho, Ashikaga-shi, Tochigi-ken. Tel: 0284-42-1194. Call ahead to request a tour in English. To get there by train, take the Tobu Isesaki line from Asakusa. The winery is 10min from Ashikaga stn by taxi. www.cocowine.com.