About Shakunage Blanc
- Style
- White
- Grape Varieties
- Dornfelder, Chardonnay
- Price Range
- Estimated ¥4,000–6,000
- not sold via regular online retail; mainly direct/in-person sales
- Alcohol
- 12.5%
Shakunage Blanc is the white-style cuvée in Minenokura's Shakunage (石楠花, "rhododendron") series, labeled on the bottle as 'Près du blanc.' It comes from the winery's own vineyards at roughly 1,050 meters on the western foothills of Mount Yatsugatake in Hara Village, Nagano — reportedly the highest-altitude vineyard site in Japan. Rather than a fixed single-varietal wine, it is a vintage-specific assemblage pressed in a 'blanc' style (minimal skin contact from red grapes alongside a white variety); the most recent release blends Dornfelder (72.6%) with Chardonnay (27.4%), fermented with wild yeast and finished with minimal sulfite additions to express the site's cool, high-altitude terroir.
Because the blend changes every vintage, Shakunage Blanc is less a fixed wine than an annual snapshot of Minenokura's highest-altitude plots — worth seeking out precisely for that unpredictability.
New to wine?
A rare, ever-changing white-style blend from Japan's highest vineyard — a fascinating first taste of high-altitude Nagano winemaking.
Food Pairings
The Dornfelder-led blend presses to a pale hue with a whisper of red-berry and rose-petal lift, while the Chardonnay portion adds body and roundness — a versatile match for delicate white fish, light seafood, and soft cheeses.
When to drink it
Small-batch tasting, aperitif, or pairing with a delicate Japanese-inspired dinner.
Terroir & Winemaking
Wild-yeast fermentation with malolactic conversion; sulfite additions kept minimal (roughly 20–40ppm total). The blend recipe is not fixed year to year — the most recent release combines Dornfelder (72.6%) and Chardonnay (27.4%) at 12.5% ABV from a production run of roughly 415 bottles; the prior release instead blended Barbera (85%) and Pinot Noir (15%) at 12.0% ABV. Buyers should confirm the exact blend for the vintage in hand.
About the producer
MinenokuraJapan's highest-altitude winery, hand-built in a family kura.原村, 長野県 · Founded 2023Visit the producer page →More wines from Minenokura
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is Shakunage Blanc?
- It is the white-style cuvée in Minenokura's Shakunage (石楠花) series, labeled on the bottle as 'Près du blanc.' It is a vintage-specific assemblage pressed in a white manner from a changing blend of red and white grapes grown on the winery's own high-altitude plots in Hara Village, Nagano.
- What grape varieties are used?
- The blend is not fixed: the most recent release is Dornfelder (72.6%) and Chardonnay (27.4%), while the prior release blended Barbera (85%) and Pinot Noir (15%) instead. Each vintage's composition should be confirmed individually.
- How is Shakunage Blanc different from Shakunage Rouge?
- Shakunage Rouge is the red-wine-style bottling in the same series, while Shakunage Blanc is pressed and finished in a white ('blanc') style — a separate, distinct cuvée within the Shakunage line, not simply a different vintage of the same wine.
- Where are the grapes grown?
- On Minenokura's own plots in Hara Village, Nagano, on the western foothills of Mount Yatsugatake at roughly 1,050 meters elevation — believed to be Japan's highest-altitude vineyard site.
- Where can I buy it?
- Minenokura is a micro-winery with very limited production (roughly a few hundred bottles per vintage); its wines are sold mainly face-to-face at the winery and select tasting events rather than through standard retail channels, so published pricing is not widely available.
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