Born into an apple farming family in the foothills of the Northern Shinshu Alps, Hirabayashi Sonoe was surrounded by beautiful nature from an early age, and with relatives making miso, soy sauce, and sake, she grew up in an environment where fermentation was always close at hand.
As an adult, she moved to the United States and worked for a trading company in New York. She became fascinated with the beauty of wine and decided to become a winemaker. She graduated from UC Davis in 2011 with a degree in winemaking. She then gained experience working for many top wine producers producing elegant, food-friendly wines, including Kusuda Wines in New Zealand, Monsecano in Chile, Retrai in Sonoma, and Masayasson in Napa.
In 2017, they released their first wine as a culmination of their efforts to date.
The concept is "a wine that represents the California climate and is loved by Japanese people with delicate palates."
For the first vintage, we chose Chardonnay, which is said to reflect the unique climate of the region like a mirror.
The wine, named "Six Cloves" after the name of the family's ancestral pharmacist in the Hokuriku region, "Rokuchoji," with the intention of carrying on the spirit of craftsmanship, is carefully crafted and has a wonderful flavor with a beautiful balance of acidity and fruitiness that seeps into the mouth.