Wa Sud, Assignan, Hérault, Languedoc, and one of the most quietly brilliant Japanese-in-France stories going. Kohki Iwata was working in a natural wine bar in Osaka for around five years when he decided to cross the world and learn how it’s actually done. He landed in France in 2008 and went straight to the deep end, two months with Olivier Cousin in the Loire, six months with Jean Foillard in Beaujolais, then four years at the Caves Augé in Paris from 2010. A pretty serious education for a guy still finding his feet.
In 2015 he ended up at Domaine des Soulié in Saint-Chinian, a 27 hectare estate that’s been organic since 1960 and runs on 100 percent green electricity. He and his wife settled nearby in Assignan, and in 2016 he started vinifying grapes bought from the Soulié vines, clay-limestone soils at 250 metres, certified organic. Funding came partly from a Japanese company, the SAS Wa Sud was born in 2017, and the whole thing runs as a négociant. Tiny production, around 5,000 bottles, and every one of them counts.
What I love is the clarity. Wines made with as little as possible, mostly no sulphur, nothing added, no tricks. Souriez is pure Syrah, fresh, fluid and incredibly drinkable, with a gorgeous fruit that doesn’t taste like typical southern Syrah at all. Pino’c is 100 percent Pinot Noir, a clever wink at Languedoc’s “oc,” destemmed, fermented in stainless, a year in 500 litre barrels, pure and fine. Cuvée Wa is the Pinot Noir and Cinsault blend, perfumed and light on its feet. And there’s Kadodépart, a pétillant rosé built for drinking in the sun. Wa in Japanese means harmony, and the wines taste like it.
Quiet, precise and genuinely thoughtful, and the kind of wine meant to lift an ordinary meal. A very good reason to keep an eye on the Languedoc’s quieter corners.
Wa Sud, Assignan, Hérault, Languedoc, and one of the most quietly brilliant Japanese-in-France stories going. Kohki Iwata was working in a natural wine bar in Osaka for around five years when he decided to cross the world and learn how it’s actually done. He landed in France in 2008 and went straight to the deep end, two months with Olivier Cousin in the Loire, six months with Jean Foillard in Beaujolais, then four years at the Caves Augé in Paris from 2010. A pretty serious education for a guy still finding his feet.
In 2015 he ended up at Domaine des Soulié in Saint-Chinian, a 27 hectare estate that’s been organic since 1960 and runs on 100 percent green electricity. He and his wife settled nearby in Assignan, and in 2016 he started vinifying grapes bought from the Soulié vines, clay-limestone soils at 250 metres, certified organic. Funding came partly from a Japanese company, the SAS Wa Sud was born in 2017, and the whole thing runs as a négociant. Tiny production, around 5,000 bottles, and every one of them counts.
What I love is the clarity. Wines made with as little as possible, mostly no sulphur, nothing added, no tricks. Souriez is pure Syrah, fresh, fluid and incredibly drinkable, with a gorgeous fruit that doesn’t taste like typical southern Syrah at all. Pino’c is 100 percent Pinot Noir, a clever wink at Languedoc’s “oc,” destemmed, fermented in stainless, a year in 500 litre barrels, pure and fine. Cuvée Wa is the Pinot Noir and Cinsault blend, perfumed and light on its feet. And there’s Kadodépart, a pétillant rosé built for drinking in the sun. Wa in Japanese means harmony, and the wines taste like it.
Quiet, precise and genuinely thoughtful, and the kind of wine meant to lift an ordinary meal. A very good reason to keep an eye on the Languedoc’s quieter corners.
