Tokyo-born Hiro Kusuda worked as a lawyer and a diplomat before pursuing a lifelong dream to make world-class Pinot Noir in New Zealand.
After completing a postgraduate degree in oenology at Germany’s prestigious Geisenheim University, Hiro leased a small vineyard in Martinborough and used his friend Kai Schubert’s winery to produce his first wines, which quickly garnered a cult following in Japan.
Gradually buying up tiny parcels of land, Hiro now single-handedly farms 3.8ha of vines with extraordinary attention to detail. Joined every year by a loyal group of friends and volunteers, Hiro’s harvest regime involves multiple passes through the vineyard to pick individual berries at perfect ripeness.
Using a rigorous low-intervention winemaking approach, Hiro crafts pure and finessed expressions of Pinot Noir, Syrah, and Riesling bottled without fining or filtration.
With just a few hundred cases produced each year, Hiro’s wines are rarely found outside of top restaurant wine lists in Japan or otherwise only at auction.
