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About the producer
Before embarking on his winemaking career, Tokyo-born Hiroyuki (known as Hiro) Kusuda trained as a lawyer, worked for Fujitsu and worked at the Consulate General of Japan in Sydney. Hiro sought a winemaking education in English, but was dissuaded by the fees that foreign students were charged at Davis in California and Roseworthy in Australia.
Instead, he went to Germany, learned the language, enrolled at Geisenheim and then emigrated to New Zealand to work as an assistant to his friend Kai Schubert, who had been a few years ahead of him at Geisenheim. This led him to the tiny town of Martinborough to pursue both the Riesling and Pinot Noir grapes – to which a third challenge, Syrah, has now been added.
The main market for Kusuda is Japan, where they have developed a cult following, and indeed whence comes the volunteer labour force at harvest time when every grape is rigorously checked before making the cut. Hiro Kusuda is meticulous to an almost fanatical degree, but it explains the exceptional quality and amazing precision of his wines.
Vineyard
Hiro owns 1.2ha of Syrah and buys in his Pinot Noir fruit. The fruit is hand harvested, vines are non-irrigated at high density plantings.
Winery
Just a few hundred cases of Syrah and Pinot Noir are produced per year. The reds are fermented in open stainless steel vats, pumped over and aged in French oak. Before bottling, the wines are unfined, with coarse filtration.