Osamu Uchida
| Vigneron | Osamu Uchida |
| Location | Pauillac (Gironde) |
| Size of Domaine | 1 ha |
| Terroir | Atlantic climate. Draining graves and clay-limestone soils, surrounded by Landes forest and isolated from other vineyards. 25m altitude. |
| Viticulture | Organic certified from 2021 |
| View Osamu Uchida wines ↓ |
Osamu Uchida grew up in Hiroshima where his parents had a wine shop, fascinated with French culture and having a strong desire to work in wine he made the trip to France in 1999. After learning some basic French, he enrolled for a course on viticulture and oenology before travelling throughout the country, working stages and visiting as many as 300 domaines over ten years.
Like many, his vision of Bordeaux as a wine region was tainted by the bling-bling and corporate image. But drawn to the region’s long winemaking history, the quality of its terroir and encouraged by the spirit of camaraderie between like-minded vignerons (Closeries des Moussis, Clos du Jaugueyron, Château des Graviers), he discovered another facet of Bordeaux. Osamu quickly changed his mind and found himself settling down even though that was never the original plan!
In 2015, after months of research, he finally found a tiny 0.6ha parcel surrounded by the cool and humid Landes forest, in the village of Cissac-Médoc – west of Pauillac and St Estèphe – planted with cabernet sauvignon only and completely secluded. The previous owner had always ploughed, he never used any chemicals, and the grapes were sold to the local cooperative. This is a stunning location and vineyard which Osamu tends like if it was his back garden and playground for practising agroforestry. Everything is done by hand with complete focus, precision and obsessive attention to details in typical Japanese fashion.
His gentle approach in the cellar allows him to coax supple, succulent fruit out of his grapes – the wines are lifted, incredibly fine and pure, with low alcohol levels. Until recently Osamu made wine from his garage (just 125m away from Mouton Rothschild’s headquarters), he has now moved to a brand new cellar tucked away in the middle of the Landes forest.
Osamu produces a mere 2,400 bottles of the cuvée Miracle (when nature permits), he also took over another 0.4ha parcel in the town of Cissac from where he produces the merlot-based cuvée Mélodie, and the new bottling Rosa is an 'exercise de style' where he blends grapes from both plots.
Osamu's plot is completely secluded and surrounded by cool and humid Landes forest Osamu Uchida Wines
HAUT-MÉDOC 2021
Miracle
100% Cabernet Sauvignon
100% Cabernet Sauvignon (12.5% alc.)
Osamu has just 0.60ha of 30yo vines in a remote spot near Cissac-Médoc surrounded by pine forests from which he produces just 2,400bts in a good year. All steps of vinification and élevage are carried out by hand in his tiny cellar (no machinery) – grapes are destemmed, a cool fermentation with manual pigeage follows, the extraction is extremely gentle (a partial semi-carbonic maceration occurs), the ageing is done in old 500ltr barrels, and there's no fining or filtration. It's all about finesse, the wine has a very delicate colour with a silky texture, lovely blackberry and blackcurrant fruit with energy and salivating finely-knitted tannins. SO2 total around 40mg/l.