Domaine Kuheiji
Bourgogne Aligoté 2023
About the producer — Domaine Kuheiji →
Morey-Saint-Denis, Burgundy, France · 0.75L
- Vintage
- 2023
- Format
- 0.75L
- Custody
- Bonded storage
Held privately in professional bonded storage. Recorded, not offered. Enquiries by request.
Enquire about this bottle →Producer context
Domaine Kuheiji is the Burgundy estate of the Japanese Banjo brewery, which has made Kuheiji sake in Nagoya since 1647. Its owner, Kuno Kuheiji, came to believe that wine and sake ask the same question — how a place expresses itself through fermentation — and in 2013 sent his sake brewer of fifteen years, Hirotaka Ito, to France. Ito worked Gevrey-Chambertin in 2014, the house acquired a cellar in Morey-Saint-Denis in 2015, and the first vintage followed in 2016.
This Aligoté grows on limestone and clay at Les Champonnier, much of it planted around 1975 and worked as vieilles vignes. In the domaine's own framing the aim is not abundance but health: low yields, high acidity, and grapes clean enough that only trace sulphur is needed. It is fermented with natural yeasts and very little physical intervention — the philosophy is to prepare the environment so carefully that the fruit can become itself.
Vintage, format and cellaring
This is the 2023 vintage in standard 0.75L format. Aligoté is not a grape built for decades in bottle; it is at its most articulate young to medium term, where its acidity and citrus-and-orchard profile stay bright. Kept in stable, temperature-controlled conditions, a wine like this rewards patience over a handful of years rather than a lifetime — the interest here is the clarity of the domaine's hand, not extreme longevity.
Because it is held in professional bonded storage from acquisition, the usual risks to a young white — heat cycling, movement, uncertain history — are removed from the equation. What reaches the glass is a bottle whose custody can be accounted for in full.
Why this bottle matters
Domaine Kuheiji is the Burgundy estate of Japan's Banjo brewery, maker of Kuheiji sake since 1647, established in Morey-Saint-Denis with a first vintage in 2016. Its winemaker, Hirotaka Ito, brewed sake for fifteen years before moving to France in 2013, and he reads Burgundy the way a brewer reads rice: through fermentation. Natural yeasts, small tanks, patience with temperature and time. The Aligoté is the house's most transparent statement of that idea — a grape usually treated as an afterthought, grown on the limestone, marl and clay the variety loves, and handled with the same care as the estate's Pinot Noir. In iDealwine's reading, the domaine's whites run on pronounced acidity, tension and freshness; this is Aligoté taken seriously.
Cellaring perspective
Aligoté is not built for decades and does not pretend to be; its virtue is nerve. A few years of quiet, cool storage let the sharpness settle into something saline and composed without losing the freshness that is the point. A curiosity from a house whose reds already circulate on allocation — and the cheapest way into one of Burgundy's most singular new projects.
From the same cellar
About this bottle
Is this Domaine Kuheiji 2023 authentic and how is its provenance documented?
This Domaine Kuheiji Bourgogne Aligoté 2023 0.75L is held in professional bonded storage with documented custody. Its provenance is recorded from acquisition, the bottle remaining in professional custody, and condition is noted. The Empty Drops is a private cellar, not a reseller, and never invents data about a bottle.
How is the bottle stored and shipped?
The bottle is kept in temperature-controlled bonded storage and is not moved unless shipping is requested. It is recorded privately, not offered publicly; it can be released through CruTrade on request.
What does the fill level and condition tell you about this bottle?
Condition is read from the fill level (ullage), capsule and label rather than taken on faith. A bottle that has stayed in professional custody since acquisition avoids the usual weak points — heat, movement and broken records.
Where can I buy Domaine Kuheiji Bourgogne Aligoté 2023 0.75L?
Domaine Kuheiji Bourgogne Aligoté 2023 0.75L is recorded privately in this cellar and is not offered publicly. When a bottle is released it is handled through CruTrade, where condition and custody are documented. To ask about availability, price or a similar bottle, make a private enquiry.