Yuki Nakano

Yuki Nakano farms a vineyard on the Bronte Peninsula in Upper Moutere, part of a vibrant community of vignerons near Nelson on the northern edge of New Zealand’s South Island. His project channels a rich journey through the world of wine into creating distinctive, terroir-driven wines characterized by depth, precision, structure, and elegance.

Yuki’s love for wine began in his youth in Kyoto, where he worked in high-end restaurants as a sommelier. This experience deepened his fascination not only with fermentation but also with sourcing wines that pair perfectly with Japanese cuisine. In 2015, a meeting with Alex Craighead of Kindeli Wines in Nelson sparked a long-term friendship and opened the door to Yuki’s journey in winemaking. That same year, he worked at Poggio Scalette in Chianti before participating in his first harvest at Kindeli in 2016.

Since then, Yuki has gained extensive international experience, working at Smallfry in the Barossa, Grape Republic in Yamagata, and consulting for Fattoria Al Fiore between 2018 and 2020. He continues to collaborate with Alex Craighead while farming and making wines under his own label, having moved to New Zealand full-time in 2020.

Yuki leased his own vineyard on the Bronte Peninsula in 2020, which had been largely abandoned, leaving soils completely free from synthetic inputs—an ideal foundation for organic certification. The dry-grown, 20-year-old vineyard sits on predominantly clay-based soils, a defining feature of the wines. The clay contributes to the wines’ remarkable structure, depth, and gastronomic potential, producing ultra-fine tannins, compact cores, and vibrant tension on the palate.

The wines are vinified and raised in a combination of barrel and stainless steel, allowing the fruit to express the Upper Moutere terroir fully. Each wine shows elegance, balance, and detailed structure, with open aromatics and layered complexity. Yuki Nakano is an exceptional young talent, and his wines represent some of the most exciting and terroir-focused expressions coming out of New Zealand today.