The words that come to mind when we think of Yoshiaki & Kyoko Sato’s wines are luminous, alive and transcendent (which we don’t use lightly, but if the shoe fits…). While traveling in New Zealand in 2017, these were some of the most spellbinding wines we came across, exceptional in their stature, depth, flavours and modest upbringing: Yoshi and Kyoko are true garagistes and meticulous biodynamic farmers.
The couple met as bankers in the late 1990s, and together moved from Tokyo & London to New Zealand in 2006 with the aim of producing their own wines. They both graduated from the Viticulture & Oenology diploma program at Lincoln University in Christchurch – and from there their careers took off.
After graduating, Yoshi and Kyoko began working in the vineyard & cellar at Felton Road (Bannockburn, Central Otago) with Blair Walter. From there, Yoshi worked as the winemaker of Mount Edward (Gibbston, Central Otago) for four years. He left in 2012 to concentrate on Sato Wines, which he and Kyoko began together as a small project in 2009. For years to follow, Kyoko continued to work at Felton Road – in addition to making the Sato wines with Yoshi – and has now joined her husband at their eponymous project full-time.
Throughout their first years, they both also managed to travel the world, working with and learning from some of the most iconic organic and biodynamic winemakers around the globe. This list includes Tom Lubbe and Sam Harrop MW (Domaine Matassa, Roussillon), Jean-Yves Bizot (Vosne-Romanée), Pierre Frick (Alsace), Phillip Pacalet (Beaune), and Christian Binner (Alsace), to name a few.
This global experience in organic & biodynamic viticulture & minimal intervention winemaking has reinforced the philosophies that the Satos live by:
“We believe grapes have to be transformed to wine with minimum intervention by human hand, chemicals or additives. In this way, we consider, natural microbiological balance is maintained in the vineyard and the wine is process in the winery so that the real character of the terroir where the grapes grow is truly expressed… This is the philosophical core of Sato Wines and we apply this traditional, natural winemaking method to the healthy and lively grapes grown in the beautiful, cool climate of Central Otago.”
Current Availability
Sato: In the Vineyards
Sato wines are made with grapes from three vineyards – the third to come online beginning with the 2019 harvest – each farmed Organically or Biodynamically, in the northeast regions of Central Otago, New Zealand.
Northburn Vineyard (biodynamic)
The Satos began using Northburn Vineyard for their Pinot Noir in 2014. This beautiful, gentle northwest-facing site was certified Organic by BioGro in 2012, and has been farmed biodynamically since 2009. In the winter of 2014, Cloudy Bay took contract of this vineyard, giving Yoshi a 1-hectare parcel of the property to manage for his own production. The corporation still has the rest of the vineyard today, which has dropped its Organic certification, but Yoshi still farms his single hectare staunchly biodynamically. It’s mineral-rich and produces Pinot Noirs of incredible complexity.
Avalon Vineyard (organic)
Yoshi and Kyoko source Pinot Gris and Riesling from this site in Queensberry, about 25 km toward Wanaka. This is a beautiful, privately-owned vineyard that has been in the process of official organic conversion for the past few years. Yoshi is working closely with the owners of this site to achieve this.
La Ferme de Sato: the Home Vineyard (upper Pisa Terrace – biodynamic)
In 2016, Yoshi and Kyoko planted their home vineyard in the Pisa sub-region, directly above and extending from the Pisa Terrace Vineyard, which they had worked with since the inception of Sato Wines in 2009. Their site sits on a east-northeast facing slope at 295 to 345m above sea level, and the estate has no history of chemical use. Its intricate, complex soil pattern and topological aspects were created by a gully that runs through its center. After years of Yoshi’s observations of the Pisa Terrace Vineyard that sits below this site, he chose to plant at high density (5,050-5,600 vines/ha) Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Gamay and Cabernet Franc – in very specific blocks based on soil and exposure across 3.2ha. The first release of these wines, which are under the very limited La Ferme de Sato label, were released in early 2022.
Of course, the Sato Home Vineyard has been farmed biodynamically since the beginning. In 2019 it achieved BioGro Certified Organic status, and came into production that same year. Based on Yoshiaki and Kyoko’s absolute attention to detail, texture and purity in their wines, the grapes from La Ferme de Sato will create easily the most covetable bottles to come from Central Otago in a long time…