The vineyard nested between forest and orange fields

The marketing surrounding large wine Domains has been so loud, it has detached wines from their anthropized environments and blurred the reality of our Grands Crus.
Initiated to the world of Natural WINES by Laurent Severac, an Essential Oil distiller and perfumer in Hanoi, I discovered a world of passionate strangers, working hard to get the best of Nature with respect and authenticity.
This Natural wines, made of earth, rain, stones, grapes and most of all, human good-care open-up to the immense gift of Nature. SAINS wines, that could translate into "NO additive what so ever" are the epitome of the Nature wines group ranging from Organic / Bio-dynamic and Natural (see attached chart above). The purest of the group and by far the most authentic with solely the intense flavor of the "cépage" they are made from.

Suo Oshima is an island nestled on the shore of the Southern Seto Nai Kai (Japan inner sea). The atmosphere changes as soon as we cross the Seto Ohashi bridge toward what it seems to be, a traditional lifestyle within a well-preserved nature but the popular Mikan (Mandarin) farming of the past 40 years has taken a toll on Suo Oshima biodiversity. Nowadays, young neo-farmers and pioneers are moving in, embracing the challenge of restoring soils while promoting natural farming. Hideya & Chinami Matsumoto are one of them. Matsumoto trained as an engineer and winemaker at Yamanashi University. His professor Mr Yoshihide Yamawaka whom developed the "Yamasou Binion" grape, a red variety of grape for wine-making, adapted to Japan weather, helped bottled the first harvest.

Matsumoto worked at the Furano winery in Hokkaido and the Nakaizu winery in Shizuoka before moving to Suo Oshima in 2013. Always interested by "stress free plantation" with out applying any label, he bought a farm and start growing grapes and mikans on poor soil, battered by years of chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. Due to the chemical pollution of arable land on Oshima, his focus has been on restoring the soil, mixing clean and old soil, adding green manure and seaweed which should give him the possibility to produce Nature wine within a few more years. His 150 trees, standing high and tall on the mountain edge are all "Yamasou Binion" a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon & Mountain grapes.

BUDO Natural Wine Project is now part of the BLUE ACADEMY Project, showing alternatives to traditional agricultural practices, by empowering young generation while re-enforcing the battle pursued by Oshima Neo-farmers: turning Suo Oshima into a 100% Natural & chemical free island.

Matsumoto and The BUDO project will also produce "Mikan Natural wine, which happens to be a specialty of my French grandmother Yolande, raised in Algeria's orange grove (see recipe below).

Day Tour can be organized from Murozumi by boat or car - Contact us here.

ORANGE WINE FROMCHEVREUIL – ALGERIA

1) For 5 liter of Vin d’Orange you need :

- 5 liter of white or dry rose wine (Nature or SAINS preferably)

- Peel 10 organic oranges with a peeler to collect as little as white skin as possible.

The white skin of the orange will absorbed the wine and do not add anythin

Let them dry in the sun for about a month then

2) In a ceramic pot or wood barrel, pour in 0,5 liters of “eau de vie” which is a clear, colorless fruit brandy or cognac or whisky but if you don't have just use 90% alcohol,

Add the dry peels & the wine

- 600 grams of raw sugar,

- 2 vanilla pods,

- 2 cinnamon sticks

- 2 drops of neroli essential oil or better if you have, a bunch of neroli flowers in maceration for 24 hours maximum.

3) Let macerate for 1 month while stirring from time to time – the recommendation is to create a vortex at least for one minute 2/4 times a week – enjoy and merci Mamie.