Dera

Dera is Les Vins Vivants' oak-aged orange wine made from 100% Delaware grapes purchased from a grower in Yamagata Prefecture. The grapes are pressed whole-bunch into an open wooden vat and fermented with indigenous wild yeast through semi-carbonic maceration, without destemming or crushing. Fermentation begins after roughly five days, punch-downs (pigeage) start once active fermentation is underway, and the must is pressed after about six weeks of extended skin contact using a pneumatic membrane press. The wine is then aged for four months in a mix of a 500L foudre and a 228L barrel (both neutral/old oak) before being racked and bottled with no fining or filtration, no added sugar, no added acid, and no added sulfites at any stage. The result is an amber-colored orange wine with notable tannin and extract from the extended skin contact, showing mandarin, dried herb, and osmanthus aromatics layered with smoky, vanilla notes from the barrel aging — a fuller, more structured expression than the producer's non-oaked Delaware bottling, 'Dera Kudo' (デラ空洞).