Located at an altitude of 700m, it has distinct differences in temperature between day and night especially from September to October when grapes reach maturity, which promotes deep colour of grapes. The soil consists of gravels overlaid with loam soil by two to three meters, and the drainage is extremely good, as the level of ground water is very low.
While the rainfall in autumn is not as much as Katsunuma, it is severely cold in winter and the temperature sometimes drops to 10 degrees below zero, giving damage to the grapevines. In order to prevent the damage by the cold weather, we have applied the closely spaced system to overhead trellis vineyards. The grape-growing history here is old enough to date back to 1916 when Concord was first planted.

Our attempt to grow Merlot started in 1976, and in 1989 our first release of "Château Mercian Shinshu Kikyogahara Merlot 1985" won the grand gold medal at the Ljubljana International Competition of Wines. This wine has continued to receive many awards and made Kikyogahara known to the world as a producing area of leading Japanese premium wine and of remarkable Merlot.

Mr. Paul PONTALLIER, General Manager of Château Margaux and a vinification adviser of Château Mercian, made a comment when he visited Kikyogahara, "Merlot in Kikyogahara has tremendous potential. This Merlot is very lively, fresh and still elegant." Now we are engaged in vertical shoot positioned trellis of Merlot in our own vineyard to enhance the quality of Château Mercian Shinshu Kikyogahara Merlot.
VINEYARD MANAGER KOICHI GENMA



■ Merlot (for red wine)
It has less tannin compared with Cabernet Sauvignon, making soft but intense wine. It also requires less time to mature than Cabernet Sauvignon.
Altitude 700m Soil Type Clay-loam
Topography Flat Climate Inland climate, basin
Variety Melrot Trellis system Overhead trellis
Vine density

500 vines/ha

 Yield 10 t/ha





We started to grow Merlot in 1976; while the vines spread on pergola at last, they did not bud because of the severe cold. Kikyogahara with higher altitude than Katsunuma has snow in winter, and the temperature sometimes drops as low as Hokkaido, even if the period is short. For the beginnings, we really had a hard time to protect the vines from the cold. Under consultation with Mercian and Agricultural Experiment Center, we have tried various ways to cope with the problem; for example, we covered the vines with straw during winter. If vines are not ripening enough due to overcropping of a previous year, the cold weather easily affect the bud break. We, therefore, have to consider not only the yield for one particular year but also the effect on the following year.

When the 1985 vintage won the great gold medal, we were finally convinced that "the grapes for wine" should be like this. We began to understand what is needed to grow such grapes. Uncompromising care - that is the most important thing.
Grape grower　TSUYOSHI NAGATA