Kenjiro Kagami

Kenjiro Kagami seems to be the subject of never-ending buzz, so widely discussed and intensely sought out are his wines today. In 2010, this Japanese-born vigneron settled in the Jura in the commune of Grusse, minutes away from the great Ganevat. This passionate winemaker took things step by step, with considerable good sense: a formal education in viticulture and oenology in Burgundy, then years spent accumulating work experience under the wings of the greats, including a year with Thierry Allemand, and five with Bruno Schueller. ‘Kagami’ means ‘mirror’ in Japonais, and Kenjiro likes to make wine in his image. The estate is composed on 3 hectares of vines on limestone soils, on extremely hard slopes. The wines produced are natural, very expressive and with huge body. They require time to settle and come into their own – a minimum of 4 to 5 years in the cellar. Of whatever juice they produce each year, 80% will be exported to Japan, which leaves barely a few bottles to go around for the rest of the world! That rarity is part of the incredible allure his wines have generated, but it’s also about that Kenjiro represents: he embodies the avant-garde of Japanese vignerons in France – a growing force to be taken seriously – and the renewal of the Jura through natural wine. That’s quite a lot for just one man!