Ishikawa
石川
Japan Sea coast's largest vineyard with mineral-rich, oyster shell-amended soils; rare Yamasouvinon variety; UNESCO GIAHS certified satoyama landscape; resilient winemakers rebuilding after the 2024 Noto earthquake
About Ishikawa
- Producers listed
- 5
- Most wineries in
- 金沢市・羽咋市
- Founded 2010 or later
- 80%
- 4 of 5 with a known founding year
Ishikawa Prefecture, home to the Noto Peninsula, is one of Japan's most distinctive wine regions. The prefecture hosts three wineries—Noto Wine (est. 2004, Anamizu), Heidee Winery (est. 2012, Wajima), and Kanazawa Winery (est. 2006, Kanazawa)—each expressing the region's diverse terroir. Noto Wine is Japan Sea coast's largest winery, cultivating over 20,000 vines across approximately 24 hectares on mineral-rich red soil fertilized with local oyster shells from Anamizu Bay. The peninsula's maritime climate—shaped by sea breezes, long sunshine hours, and diatomaceous earth, red clay, and sandy soils—produces wines with refreshing acidity and notable minerality. Key grape varieties include Yamasouvinon (a rare Japanese cross of Yamabudo × Cabernet Sauvignon), Chardonnay, Merlot, Muscat Bailey A, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Albarino. The region earned UNESCO Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS) recognition. In January 2024, a magnitude-7.6 earthquake severely impacted the Noto Peninsula; Noto Wine lost approximately 10,000 liters of wine but its vineyards were largely unharmed, while Heidee Winery's restaurant building was destroyed yet the winery has since partially resumed operations.
Best for
Mineral-driven whites (Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc) that shine with fresh seafood; fruity medium-bodied reds (Yamasouvinon, Muscat Bailey A) for lighter meat dishes; sparkling wines made by the traditional method for Noto oysters and winter yellowtail (kanburi)
Food Pairings
Noto oysters (best with mineral Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc—the same oyster shells that fertilize the vineyards), winter yellowtail (kanburi) sashimi (pairs beautifully with lightly oaked Chardonnay or aged Yamasouvinon), nodoguro (blackthroat seaperch) with white or light rosé, Noto beef (Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon), Wajima morning market seafood, Kaga vegetables with light whites, traditional Kaga cuisine (jibuni duck stew with medium-bodied reds), snow crab (zuwaigani / kanogani) with crisp sparkling or Albarino, fresh sea urchin (uni) with unoaked Chardonnay
Winery Map of Ishikawa
Of the Ishikawa wineries on Vinami, we show the 5 whose locations we have verified.
Wineries by Municipality
- 金沢市2
- Kanazawa WineryFounded 2018
- Vin de la bocchi farm & wineryFounded 2020
- 羽咋市1
- ITAYA FarmFounded 2020
- 穴水町1
- Noto WineFounded 2004
- 輪島市1
- Heidee WineryFounded 2011
Addresses and founding years are verified against each winery's official website and public information from local governments and industry bodies. Sources are listed on each producer's page.
Producers
ハイディワイナリー
Heidee Winery
Heidee Winery is a family-run winery on the Noto Peninsula in Wajima City, Ishikawa Prefecture, founded in 2011 by Masaki Takasaku. A 2009 visit to Maienfeld, Switzerland — the real-life setting of the story of Heidi, Girl of the Alps — inspired him to build a winery of his own from bare hillside land. Starting in spring 2012, Takasaku and his sister planted vines by hand across two Oku-Noto sites (Minazukiusan and Sendai), cultivating around eight thousand vines across seven varieties: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Albariño, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. The winery pursues precise, science-informed winemaking — including 0.1°C temperature control during fermentation — while respecting the rugged, sea-facing terroir of Noto. Its CLARA and SENRI ranges have earned Gold at the Japan Wine Competition 2024 and the JAL Award at the Japan Winery Award 2025.
Explore →
heidee-winery.jp/ITAYA Farm（イタヤファーム）
ITAYA Farm
Founded in 2020 in Hakui City, Ishikawa Prefecture, ITAYA Farm is an emerging grape-growing project just 200 meters from Senrihama Beach on the Noto Peninsula — Japan's only drivable sand beach. Led by former occupational therapist Kenichi Fujishima, the farm reclaimed abandoned farmland to plant vines (Albariño, Chardonnay, Muscat Bailey A, among others) in rare sandy coastal soil, where sea breeze and salt stress concentrate mineral character in the fruit. Grapes are vinified under contract at SAYS FARM in Himi, Toyama Prefecture; the first vintage of their 'Umi no Wine' (Sea Wine) was released in 2023/2024. ITAYA Farm's long-term vision is a 'Nofuku Renkei' (agriculture-welfare collaboration) wine village where people with disabilities and elderly residents can work in the vineyard and winery, modeled in spirit on Coco Farm Winery. A dedicated winery building is planned to open locally.
Explore →
itayafarm.jp/金沢ワイナリー
Kanazawa Winery
Founded in 2018 by the Kanazawa Daichi organic farming company, Kanazawa Winery is an urban winery located in a restored Kanazawa townhouse (machiya) in the historic Owari-cho district of Kanazawa, Ishikawa. It is the only winery in Japan to ferment wine using cherry blossom yeast — a natural yeast isolated from the double-flowered cherry trees of Kenroku-en garden and originally developed by the Ishikawa Prefectural Industrial Research Institute. Grapes are sourced almost entirely from within Ishikawa Prefecture, including reclaimed farmland in Noto, drawing on diverse local terroirs such as the diatomaceous soils of Suzu, the red clay of Anamizu, and the sand dunes of Uchinada. A French restaurant on the second floor of the machiya pairs the winery's wines with dishes built around local Ishikawa ingredients.
Explore →
k-wine.jp/能登ワイン
Noto Wine
Noto Wine (能登ワイン株式会社) is Ishikawa Prefecture's first and flagship winery, established on July 22, 2004, in the town of Anamizu on the Noto Peninsula. Vineyard development began in 2000, and the first vintage was released in 2005. The winery produces approximately 120,000 bottles per year from roughly 25 hectares of vineyards, working in partnership with local farming families. Noto Wine is renowned for its commitment to expressing the unique terroir of the Noto Peninsula through what they call 'nama-zume' (生詰め) — unpasteurized, additive-free wine that preserves the living character of Noto-grown grapes. The signature is freshness: wines bottled without heat treatment to lock in the natural aromas and flavors of each vintage. The winery's most distinctive feature is its soil: vineyards are planted in mineral-rich red earth that is amended with powdered oyster shells from Anamizu Bay, imparting a briny minerality unique to this coastal terroir. This technique draws on Anamizu's centuries-old tradition of oyster aquaculture, connecting wine to the broader Noto agricultural heritage recognized as a FAO Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS). Grape varieties cultivated include the signature Japanese hybrid Yama Sauvignon (ヤマソーヴィニヨン — a cross of wild Japanese mountain grape Vitis coignetiae and Cabernet Sauvignon), alongside Chardonnay, Niagara, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, and Sangiovese. Yama Sauvignon is the emblematic variety — wild, earthy, and intensely flavored with the character of Noto's mountainous coastal landscape. Noto Wine received recognition in the 8th Japan Winery Award (JWA) 2025, affirming its standing among Japan's quality wine producers. The winery survived the devastating 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake (M7.6, January 1, 2024), which caused damage to facilities but left vineyards and core operations intact. The team's determination to continue winemaking — pressing on with the 2024 vintage — became a symbol of Noto's resilience and recovery.
Explore →
notowine.com/ヴァン・ド・ラ・ボッチ
Vin de la bocchi farm & winery
Vin de la bocchi farm & winery is a family-run winery in Tawaramachi, on the hillside outskirts of Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture. Founded by the Honda family — Masato Honda, a graduate of Ecole du Vin d'Alsace-linked Arukan Vignes wine academy, and his wife Michiyo, who serves as company representative — the project began with vineyard planting in 2016 and completed its own fermentation and aging facility in 2020. The winery farms roughly 4-5 hectares on former rice paddy land underlain by volcanic Tomuro-stone gravel, growing around 19 European varieties including Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Petit Manseng, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sangiovese and Pinot Noir, with minimal chemical pesticide and additive use. The name 'bocchi' (meaning 'alone' in Japanese) reflects the winery's founding purpose: creating a workplace where people with disabilities, including the Hondas' autistic second son Hibiki, can work and contribute — Hibiki illustrates every wine label. Wines are numbered rather than named by variety and are sold through Japanese retailers such as IMADEYA, and the winery is officially listed with the Japan Winery Association.
Explore →
labocchi.jp/
Frequently Asked Questions
- What makes Ishikawa (Noto) wine unique compared to other Japanese wines?
- Ishikawa's wines—especially those from the Noto Peninsula—stand out for two reasons: First, the vineyards at Noto Wine are fertilized with oyster shells from Anamizu Bay, imparting distinctive minerality and balanced acidity. Second, Noto Wine uses Yamasouvinon, an ultra-rare cross of wild Japanese Yamabudo and Cabernet Sauvignon grown almost exclusively on the peninsula, giving reds a savory, umami-rich character that's virtually impossible to find elsewhere.
- What happened to Noto wineries after the 2024 earthquake, and can I still buy their wines?
- The January 2024 Noto earthquake (M7.6) caused significant damage: Noto Wine lost roughly 10,000 liters of stored wine but its vineyards survived largely intact and production resumed quickly. Heidee Winery's restaurant was destroyed, yet the winery itself resumed operations by mid-2024. Both wineries' wines are available online and through retailers nationwide, and purchasing their wines directly supports the ongoing recovery of the Noto Peninsula.
- What food should I pair with Noto wines?
- Noto wines are tailor-made for the prefecture's coastal cuisine. Mineral-forward whites (Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc) are superb with Noto oysters, nodoguro seaperch, and snow crab. The Yamasouvinon red works beautifully with Noto beef or duck jibuni stew. For winter yellowtail (kanburi) sashimi—Ishikawa's signature winter delicacy—try a lightly-oaked Chardonnay or a Heidee Winery Merlot-based blend. Sparkling wines made by the traditional method shine alongside oysters and fresh seafood from Wajima morning market.