Tsuchiya Maceration

Tsuchiya Maceration is a skin-contact ("orange wine" style) white made by Kunitsu Fruit Wine Brewery (Mie Prefecture) from 100% Chardonnay grown by grower Shinichi Tsuchiya in Takahata Town, Yamagata Prefecture — a source distinct from the winery's Delaware-based Budou to Ikiru line, and a sibling to the winery's non-macerated Tsuchiya Blanc de Blanc from the same grower's fruit. The relationship with Tsuchiya began in July 2019, when the winery visited his vineyard, trained in a natural X-shaped form that lets each vine carry the crop load its own vigor allows, rather than being forced for yield. After an orthodox, non-macerated 2019 vintage and a stainless-only 2020, the winery committed from the 2021 vintage onward to fermenting Tsuchiya's still wines on their skins: whole clusters with a partial (roughly 20%) destemming rate undergo a gentle semi-carbonic maceration, held on skins anywhere from around 12 days to two months depending on the year, pressed close to dryness, then aged for an extended period in stainless tank and old oak barrels. Vintage character swings noticeably — some releases show ripe orange, honey and quince aromatics with soft, youthful acidity, while others lean toward cleaner citrus, pear and apricot with a lighter, more transparent, bone-dry structure — and bottlings are released both with and without added sulfites depending on the vintage.