The wine that almost didn't happen

When Takaki Okada left his prized new Marlborough vineyard to completely dry up, people thought he was mad.

You wouldn’t blame them - but there was method to his madness.

And it’s resulted in the spectacular Sauvignon Blanc that’s about to hit Irish shores.

It takes an outsider

Born in Japan, Takaki Okada learned how to make wine in California before landing up in New Zealand working for a French company. As you do.

It was in 2010 while he was the vineyard manager for Clos Henri, a prestigious Marlborough winery owned by a famous family from Sancerre, that he came across a small organic vineyard for sale in the Brancott Valley.

He figured this was his big chance to start his own business, so he snapped it up. Folium Vineyard was born.

There’s something in the water

Takaki’s a very smart guy, and he knew that in a huge region like Marlborough, he needed a radically different way to stand out.

He’d grown up in Tokyo drinking European wines, and loved how they tasted different and nuanced each year. A trait that people don’t often associate with new world wines.

He reckoned the difference was in the water.

99% of vineyards in places like Marlborough are irrigated to encourage big volumes, while most European vineyards get their special character because the vines have to struggle without it.

Less water = deeper roots = more flavour and vineyard character.

So the first thing he did with his new vineyard was to turn off the taps.

You don’t have to be mad to make wine, but it helps

Takaki’s neighbours in the Brancott Valley told him he was nuts.

For the next 3 or 4 years it seemed as though they had excellent judgement, as the vines regressed and produced next to nothing.

But Takaki kept the faith and kept the taps off.

And then something magical happened

The vineyard suddenly picked up and started producing the most wonderful fruit.

Fruit with complexity, purity and texture that had been rarely seen in Marlborough before.

You could almost compare it to great Sancerre, and given Takaki’s past experience and connections, this would be no coincidence.

It came at a steep price however - Takaki’s vineyards now produce 8 tons of fruit per hectare, in a region that produces 12-15 on average.

From good to great

You’d think that making your land 40% less profitable would be enough of a hit to guarantee quality? Not for Takaki.

He tears up the standard Sauvignon rulebook to make Folium taste even more special:

• He farms organically, to keep the grapes and surrounding environment as healthy and vibrant as they can be
• At harvest he hand-picks, to make sure only the most pristine grapes make it through to the winery
• Fermentation is started naturally from the native yeasts that sit on the grape skins, rather than adding buckets of commercial yeasts to jolt it into action. This means fermentation starts much more slowly, but you gain complexity and more natural flavours as a result

Finally the wine is aged on its lees for 11 months - instead of the standard 2-3. This extra time gives the wine a smooth and luxurious character, rather than being bottled early and rushed out to be sold in time for Christmas.

The result is a wine with all the fruity intensity of a Marlborough Sauvignon, but with the finesse and complexity of a great Sancerre.

After a two-year hiatus, Folium Sauvignon Blanc is back

I got to know Takaki through Mike Paterson, who kindly introduced us in 2022 when he ran out of Meltwater.

Leaving me with an outage of Sauvignon and a bunch of customers quite partial to the stuff. Eek!

Folium was only ever meant as a one-off. But based on glowing member feedback, I knew I had to go back and get more.