La Ferme de Sato Le Chant du Vent 2022

La Ferme de Sato Le Chant du Vent 2022

Yoshiaki and Kyoko Sato have been making wine in NZ’s Central Otago since moving there from Tokyo in 2006. Starting out at Felton Rd, Yoshiaki subsequently became winemaker at neighbouring Mt Edward, and Kyoko continued to be vineyard supervisor at Felton Rd, until 2018 when they both decided to focus full time on their own wines.

There are two labels from Yoshi and Kyoko. Their first release under the Sato label in 2009 was 190 cases of Pinot Noir sourced from external growers, a mantra that still continues to this day under the Sato moniker. The La Ferme de Sato bottlings literally translate as the farm of Sato, a small 5ha biodynamic and organically run property the duo have managed since their purchase in 2016. Located under Mt Pisa in the Cromwell subregion of Otago, the Sato farm sits at 300-350m above sea level with a specific focus of easterly facing vineyards, chasing that morning sunshine, rather than the intense heat of the afternoon. The farm itself has no history of chemical use, pre purchase it was a sheep pasture, and is planted to a mix of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Gamay and Cabernet Franc.

The Satos make wines with minimal intervention. They often use the terminology 'natural' - and unfairly this can push people into thinking wines that are faulty or flawed. I tend to look at it as a Japanese translational thing when they reference 'natural' wines, these are wines that are farmed without the use of pesticides, herbicides, systemic fungicides or inorganic fertilisers, and then in the cellar there are no additives utilised, with the wines spending a long time naturally stabilising in cask prior to bottling with a very small addition of sulphur (<15ppm). In their use of the word natural, the only thing here is organically farmed grapes.

Their precision and education allows them to make exceptionally elegant wines of this nature with Yoshi having worked with Bernard Huber, Domaine Matassa, Jean-Yves Bizot and Jean-Pierre Frick, whilst Kyoko had spent time abroad with Phillip Pacalet, Julien Guillot and Christian Binner.

100% Chardonnay from their 0.95 hectares on alluvial sandy and silt loams with schist and quartz gravel. Hand picked between 19th and 28th of March, pressed overnight in a basket press, fermented with natural yeasts in barrel, prior to ageing on the lees for 16 months in French oak barriques, 18% of which are new.

Punchy nose, honey suckle and jasmine, there's a little mealy, oxidative note here that's a positive uptick, just enough to add complexity and interest, yet it still carries a level of reduction. Layers! The fruit is powerfully exotic, in that yellow nectarine, stone fruit realm, but it's countered by intense layers of complexity - there's river pebble minerality that shapes the frame, and that little oxidative lick plays through to give it a nudge in the acidity stakes. This is Jura-esque in the best way possible, and blind would be very difficult to judge as to which half of the globe it would be coming from!

A complex and complete chardonnay with acid energy guiding the wine. Full-bodied with fabulous fruit of sliced apples, cooked apples and salted caramel with flint at the end. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold. Screw cap. - 96 Points, James Suckling