Kusuda Syrah 2022

Hiroyuki Kusuda, once his thesis was completed, graduation followed in 2001. Having exhausted his savings during his four years at Geisenheim, Kusuda leased an unirrigated pinot vine yard near Martinborough, and made the first vintage (and all subsequent vintages) at the Schubert Winery in 2002. While pinot noir remains the principal focus, he makes a similar amount of syrah (3000 to 4000 bottles of each if the vintage is kind), and made his first riesling in 2009. It is here his Japanese army comes into play: every year 20 to 30 friends fly in from Japan at their own expense. One tonne of pinot grapes will typically take two days to hand-pick and thereafter undergo a berry-by-berry inspection (after passing through the destemmer). Even the slightest imperfection will result in rejection; the true cost of production is many times the price of the wine.