Uncorked: Katsuhisa Fujino of Château Mercian

Hailing from Kyushu, the southwestern-most of Japan’s main islands, Katsuhisa Fujino is the senior winemaker at one of Japan’s largest wineries, Château Mercian. Having joined the Mercian Corporation group in 1979, Fujino worked in Mercian’s Paris office and later at Château Reysson in Bordeaux. Through his stints in France, the Japanese winemaker formed a close relationship with the late Paul Pontallier, general director of Château Margaux, which had led the latter to consult for the Japanese winery from 1998 until his death. In the interview the Japanese winemaker opens up about this friendship with Pontallier and how Japanese gardening inspires him to pursue elegance and finesse in wine.

What vintage are you?

I was born in the harvest season of 1953, which was rated as an excellent year in Bordeaux as five stars, but sadly we have no record in Japan. My ‘appellation’ is Fukuoka in Kyushu, Japan. It is now a sister city of Bordeaux.

What bottle sparked your love of wine?

I knew nothing about wine in my university days and I joined the Mercian Corporation in 1979. The wine that sparked my love of wine was Château Calon-Ségur 1970. I tasted it with my colleagues in 1980. I was so surprised by the possibility of wine’s ability to age when we drank it.

What would you be as a wine?

Château Mercian Kikyogahara Merlot: elegant, tasty, with a good complexity and well balanced like a great Japanese red wine.

Where are you happiest?

Lodging near the summit of a mountain, and drinking good wines. After walking along the back of the Japanese Northern Alps, located in the middle of Japan, I can feel the joy of my life with gratitude for my wife and family.

What’s your greatest vice?

Over drinking and eating. When I was a representative in our Paris office 20 years ago, I had a lot of good meals with plenty of wines. As Paris is always a city of delicious food, I could not keep my ideal weight with appropriate volume of exercise. I am also struggling today to keep effective control of drinking and eating with sufficient exercise. 

Best advice you ever got?

I believe in the greatness of a man and importance of communication. Mr. Shogo Asai, my first director at the Fujisawa Winery, was encouraging young winemakers to make the best wine in Japan, even if climate conditions weren’t ideal. He gave me a good philosophy for winemaking and I also studied from great mentors. 

“Great wine has an elegance like a Japanese garden” is another good piece of advice I got from the late Paul Pontallier, general director of Château Margaux. I had a close relationship with him as my children and his children were in the same school when I was working on viticulture and winemaking in Château Reysson, a Crus Bourgeois winery, located in Haut Médoc in 1994.

He then acted as an advisor for the winemaking of Château Mercian from 1998. His great advice: “Great wine has an elegance like a Japanese garden”, to me means that there must be harmony and elegance in all the elements of a wine. He contributed greatly to improving the quality of Château Mercian and our brand concept has been “Finesse and Elegance” since 2002.

Your cellar’s underwater, which bottle would you dive in and save?

There is nothing more important than life. Although I have wines with precious memories in my wine cellar, I will not take a risk for a bottle of wine. Maybe it is possible to secure some bottles after the crisis is over.

What’s the best and worst thing about the wine business?

Having lots of great friends in many different countries is the best thing. Being forced to drink and buy excellent wines once I tasted and felt could be the worst thing.

What’s on your wine bucket list?

To make not only Fukuoka but also the whole Kyushu region a ‘Wine Kingdom’ in the future despite its monsoon seasons. There are approximately 300 wineries in Japan but fewer than 10 wineries located in Kyushu. I think that to make a very good wine in Kyushu, we have to deal with the rain, same as other Asian countries. If we can produce very good wines in Kyushu, it can motivate other Asian countries to make better quality wines in the future.

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?

Well definitely my wife and children and all my friends who took care of me in my life.

Personal Satisfaction (Parker Points – out of 100)

I would like to make an excellent wine with the Koshu variety (for white) and another with Merlot in Japan. I will be satisfied with myself if they ultimately turned out to be elegant and refined. It will be full marks then.

Which wine would you like served at your funeral?

Château Mercian Kikyogahara Merlot 1990 (from Nagano Prefecture) and Château Mercian Koshu Kiiroka 2004 (from Yamanashi Prefecture). Kikyogahara Merlot was my first important wine as a winemaker in our winery and I brought it to be tasted by Pontallier in Bordeaux in 1994. Koshu Kiiroka was one of the innovations of winemaking for original variety of Koshu in Japan, and was launched in 2005 with the late Dr. Takatoshi Tominaga of Bordeaux University as a joint research project.