Japanese Love
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
Born with an extraordinary talent for understanding foreign languages, Ismaël Lehmann embarked on an unexpected journey to Japan. His studies took him to Tokyo and Shizuoka, but in Kawasaki, his life changed—all thanks to meeting his great love, Yoshino. Intrigued by the vibrant wine culture, Ishmael's stay in Japan introduced him to the universe of natural wine. While systematically observing and tasting all the wine shops and wine bars, he met Yoshino. It was love at first sight, and the plan to make wine together in his homeland, where hybrid grapes were becoming increasingly popular, soon came into view. Their ambition takes them south of France, to Ishmael's birthplace, and to Issirac in the Gard, where they plan to have a happy life together in wine.
STUDY
Although their Projet Kamoshika (Japanese for fermentation) is still in its infancy, the trip to Japan proved to be the stepping stone to their passionate immersion in collecting grapes from vines and developing all kinds of hybrids with a penchant for Couderc 13. Warriors, in other words, who want to keep traditions alive, are considered obsolete or derided, yet have been at the forefront for quite some time. They were one step ahead of all our questions. 'The issue of restoring hybrid grape varieties is stirring today's wine world. Wines that can be good, healthy, and accessible have a future in this era of climate change and ecological awareness,' explains Ishmael. 'By nurturing these grapes, an infinitesimal but infinitely precious work is unfolding, bringing back a deep-seated attachment to our land.'
ERIC GÉRALD MARK
The challenges are many. Project Kamoshika was created through much self-sacrifice, but above all, thanks to a collective of people who Ishmael and Yoshino supported from the beginning and brought connection, which opened up perspective with more significant opportunities. For instance, there was advice from Eric Pfifferling, Gérald Oustric, and Mark Angeli. Good friends also came to the rescue, especially with beautiful grapes entrusted to them. By persevering with harvesting what little vineyard they have, they produce small quantities but high quality.
Their property consists of 0.45 ha of Carignan, 0.10 ha of Grenaches and Clairettes and a handful of Couderc 13. Of course, you can't live on that with a wife and two children, so Ismaël has to remain doubly active. So, in the summer months, he can be found as a sommelier at the delicious restaurant Le Mouton Noir in Issirac, and in the winter months, he is in front of the classroom teaching Moroccans, Spaniards, Brazilians and Ukrainian women who need to learn French. Ismaël shies away from nothing. In the remaining minutes, he follows his wine, always with minimal intervention and no input to not brutalise the wines during fermentation. The aim is to produce a wine that represents the typical characteristics of the terroir, whose taste is reminiscent of grape juice.
SHOKUNIN-TYPE
As a person, Ishmael is like the Shokunin type, known as someone who trains endlessly to become the best, for while paying homage to the patient and meticulous way of winemaking in his area, he has challenged local orthodoxy in the cellar and shaped the definition of southern French wines in his image. Everything should be able to be better but, above all, more challenging.
He is satisfied with Yoshino. She takes good care of the children, cooks deliciously, designs beautiful labels, and looks cheerful and intelligent. In addition to Japanese, she speaks excellent English, French, and a little German. Moreover, she tastes very well.
BACK TO THE 1950S
There are two series. The wines of the series, Les Vrais Rouges, go back to the 1950s in terms of flavour. At their best, the wines are deep, structured and gracefully detailed creations that force us to question regular wine's attachment to typicity, which for Ismaël is not a goal but a point of reference. These are noble wines from a beautiful region that, through the kaleidoscopic lens of a genuinely creative mind, taste more exciting than ever before and are masterful expressions of their variety, as intoxicating and delicately perfumed as powerful. Great wines from the Rhône come to mind. The people on the labels, such as Alfred, Marjory and Clara, were sketched by Isaac Brodsky during the Russian Revolution. Ishmael studied workers' history at university and is still fascinated by those who believed in communism and often died at the armed hands of the Soviet Union.
ALFRED MARJORY CLARA
Alfred a dyke of a wine based on 65% Cotton and 30% Tempranillo supplemented with consensual compromises like merlot and Syrah and a bit of Polish crunches with accents of pine sap and plays around Christmas with the family.
Marjory flirts with Syrah from the Vénéjan plateau in the mistral-ravaged Cote-du-Rhône and is a clear winner. A wood-fired coulis of seductively fragrant red fruits with a hint of pepper, full-bodied and fruity like a Basque cake with deep black Bigarreaux from Euskadi. It's spicy, like a fight with a wild boar.
Clara, from the same plot, is riper, shades with huge peony accents, and comes 16 months later. It is finely wooded and delicious as can be, full of tramontane and sunshine on limestone. Lacey Côte-Rotie is stylish but modest, and it tastes like kissing on that first date.
GAZ DE CHIPS
The 'Gaz de Chips' series pays tribute to local opposition to fracking, the controversial drilling for shale gas, called 'Gaz de Schiste' in French. People in the area put bright blue stickers on their cars in protest against 'le gaz de schiste', which was the petrol-black colour that Ishmael and Yoshino chose for the first GDC. Now, the labels' colours have softened.
Gaz de Chips gris is Mégadèche, an authentic pirate wine made from 50-year-old Carignans, Grenaches, and Clairettes without artifice. Its high acidity is thirst-quenching like a brilliant Poulsard.
Gaz de Chips mauve is the addictive Régnié in Blood, gamay picked on its own at a friend's house in the Beaujolais with colour as red as your cheeks on a windy day.
Gaz de Chips bleu is the Fracking Blue Boy of 80-year-old Alicante Bouschet and juicy Carignan, which tastes blackcurrant and poppy and has enough gum for dinner.
TETRAPOD
Tetrapod is the white, rather unusual wine, a kind of Rivella-Schweppes, but also the wine that brought us together in Issirac on 27 June at the round table under the old trees in the courtyard over delicious noodle soup and wine. Tetrapods are breakwaters and are the iconic, simple design from France in the 1950s, but also the image of crabs, lonely fishermen and teenagers holding hands. Tetrapods are for everyone, but this white wine of Ugni Blanc from the canyons, sun-kissed Vermentino, and a little never-before-treated Chardonnay with a sweet-salty and stony finish is not for everyone but worth trying. Treacherous and a tad embarrassing, like the charm of a handsome sailor at a shady bar, not necessarily very hetero but properly chilled, the absolute summer hit for professionals. A stunning come-back is already in the works.
VERMOUTH
A few hints of things to come Ishmael did not want to withhold from us. Half a hectare of white assyrtiko, pecorino and picpoul see the light this year. He may succeed in making the Couderc 13 an honest Pet Nat (the first try-out was excellent). A white vermouth, a nielluccio, a 2018 orange wine and a carbo of muscat petit grain will also see the light of day in 2024, and do not rule out a blend of syrah-merlot-cabernet.
FREE THINKERS
Ishmael and Yoshino are free thinkers and examples of how to get ahead in this world with nothing but pure intuition, hard work, and perhaps most importantly, a strong sense of friendship. You can taste that friendship in all their wines. We are extremely proud that Ishmael and Yoshino are joining our portfolio.
