Aruiwa

Aruiwa is Les Vins Vivants' first cuvée made from 100% purchased grapes rather than a blend with fruit — a pétillant naturel crafted entirely from Steuben, a dark-skinned American hybrid grape sourced from growers in Aomori Prefecture (the estate's own Tomi City, Nagano vines are Pinot Noir, Gamay, Chenin Blanc and Riesling). The whole clusters are pressed directly for juice only — no destemming, crushing, or skin maceration — and settled without débourbage in an open stainless-steel tank, with no heating to encourage fermentation. Indigenous wild yeast take roughly ten days to kick off alcoholic fermentation, and the still-fermenting juice is bottled about two weeks after the process begins, finishing its primary fermentation in bottle by the méthode ancestrale (pét-nat) technique to a dry finish. After six months of bottle aging the wine is disgorged to remove the lees, with no dosage or sweetness adjustment. No sulfites are added at any stage, and the wine is unfiltered and unfined. Despite the absence of skin contact, pigment from the black Steuben skins tints the wine a pale rosé hue. Retailers describe a lightly sparkling wine with a sweet, floral nose that resolves into a very dry palate, showing notes of peach (reminiscent of a peach witbier), orange peel, and strawberry, layered with herbal and aloe-yogurt-like nuances. Reported alcohol content varies between sources (roughly 9.5% on the producer's own site versus around 11–11.2% on several retail listings), so it has been omitted here pending confirmation.