Akarenga Wine Garden (赤れんがワインガーデン), a wine event for tasting and learning about Hokkaido wines, will be held for the first time on Saturday, November 21 and Sunday, November 22, 2026. The venue is the Former Hokkaido Government Office Building in Sapporo, known as the "Akarenga" (Red Brick) building.
Even wines made in the same Hokkaido have a wide range of characters, depending on the production area, grape variety, and the methods of cultivation and winemaking. The event is designed to "taste, enjoy, and learn," deepening understanding from the flavor in the glass to the background that creates those differences. It offers a chance to find a favorite bottle, both for those already familiar with wine and for those who are just starting to explore Hokkaido wines.
The event includes the "Hokkaido Winery Selection," which lets visitors taste the characteristics of Hokkaido winemaking, and the "Hokkaido Terroir Selection," which focuses on the individuality of grape varieties grown in Hokkaido. It also features a "Premium Dinner with Seminar," in which visitors can enjoy an academic talk with invited producers together with a full-course pairing.
Visitors can enjoy wine in a space designated as a national Important Cultural Property while reflecting on the history of winemaking behind it and the stories of the makers. At the end of Hokkaido's autumn, after the harvest, the event is also a way to express gratitude to the producers, bringing Japanese wine together with the Akarenga building.
Tickets
General Ticket: ¥6,000 (tax included)
The General Ticket is held in the Akarenga Hall on the 2nd floor and includes:
- Akarenga admission
- 3 glasses of wine (75 ml each)
- Special finger food from the restaurant "HOUSE.H"
- 1 rental glass
- An original coaster bearing the Akarenga Wine Garden logo, made by Somes Saddle (ソメスサドル) of Sunagawa, given to the first visitors each day
- Free admission to the "Academic Lectures" held twice a day in the hall, at 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM (lecturers: Teruo Sone (曾根輝雄) and Nakagawa (中川理) of Hokkaido University)
Premium Dinner with Seminar: ¥22,000 (tax included)
The dinner is held at the restaurant "HOUSE.H" on the 1st floor and includes a four-course full-course meal and four wines (one glass each). A talk seminar is also included, featuring Takahiko Soga on Saturday, November 21, and Hayuru Yano and Teruo Sone on Sunday, November 22. A souvenir is included.
Pairing wines:
- Saturday, November 21: four wines from Domaine Takahiko
- Sunday, November 22: four wines from de Montille & Hokkaido
Ticket Sales
- Sales period: Saturday, October 17 to Friday, November 20, 2026
- Sold at: Doshin Playguide (道新プレイガイド), Sapporo Community Plaza Ticket Center (札幌市民交流プラザ チケットセンター), and Seicomart (セイコーマート)
- Event web page: https://moula.jp/articles/trip_eat/entry-9527.html
Three Programs to Explore Hokkaido Wine
The event brings Hokkaido wineries together at the Akarenga building with three programs: a three-wine comparison tasting corner where visitors can choose Hokkaido wines, a corner with additional special labels such as limited-quantity labels and distinctive varieties, and a premium dinner with a seminar featuring producers.
Program 1: Hokkaido Winery Selection
At this corner, visitors can freely choose three wines made by long-established wineries that represent Hokkaido, as well as wineries that are drawing attention, and taste them side by side. It is a chance to encounter Japanese wines that express the climate and land of their regions.
Low-alcohol wines such as cider, and non-alcoholic juices, are also available.
Program 2: Hokkaido Terroir Selection
This booth focuses on grape varieties grown in Hokkaido and lets visitors experience their individuality through the taste of the wine. Visitors can taste distinctive wines that bring out the characteristics of each variety to the fullest through the environment, cultivation, winemaking, and storage. Limited-quantity labels and special labels are also prepared.
It is a paid wine corner where visitors can choose additional wines after the three-wine comparison tasting (40 ml per glass, all ¥800).
Program 3: Premium Dinner with Seminar
In this special program, invited producers talk about the background of their winemaking in a conversation format. At the restaurant "HOUSE.H" (ハウスエイチ) on the 1st floor of the Akarenga building, visitors can try a full-course meal supervised by French chef Nobu Shimokuni (下國伸), paired with four wines (one glass each) from the featured producers. The program lasts two hours, during which visitors listen to the makers while tasting and learning about combinations of wine and food. It is described as a premium occasion available only at this event.
Guest Producers
Saturday, November 21: Takahiko Soga (曽我貴彦) / Domaine Takahiko
Takahiko Soga, the second son of the Obuse Winery in Nagano, established Domaine Takahiko in 2010. After studying brewing at a university in Tokyo, he went on to work at the university and pursue a path as a microbiology researcher, but he could not forget the appeal of wine. During ten years as farm manager at Coco Farm & Winery (ココファームワイナリー) in Tochigi, he visited wine regions in Japan and around the world. He was deeply impressed by the wines of Overnoy (オベルノワ) in Jura and decided to aim for wines inspired by them using Pinot Noir. He bought 4.6 ha of farmland in Yoichi and founded the domaine. He currently grows 13 lines of Pinot Noir, all managed biologique (organic). As a vigneron, he aims for natural winemaking that can only be done by a farmer, and for agriculture and winemaking that can be sustained in many senses.
Sunday, November 22: Hayuru Yano (矢野映) / General Manager, de Montille & Hokkaido
Hayuru Yano joined Lac Corporation (ラック・コーポレーション) in 1988. Yano's work there covered contact with producers across France, including Burgundy, Champagne, and the Loire, finding producers in Burgundy and New Zealand, and domestic sales, over 32 years at the company, where Yano was formerly vice president. Yano retired in March 2020 and now serves as an advisor. Through importing the wines of Domaine de Montille (ドメーヌ・ド・モンティーユ) in Volnay and Château de Puligny-Montrachet (シャトー・ド・ピュリニー・モンラッシェ) in Puligny-Montrachet, Yano has long been friends with Etienne de Montille.
Sunday, November 22: Teruo Sone (曾根輝雄) / Professor, Research Faculty of Agriculture, Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University
Teruo Sone was born in Shizuoka in 1969. He completed the doctoral program at the Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia in 1997 and a JSPS Research Fellow (PD) in 1998, joined the Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University in 2001, and has held his current post since 2015. Using molecular genetic methods, he works on applied research on various microorganisms, from plant disease control to winemaking. To strengthen the sustainability of Hokkaido's communities, he promotes wine education and research at Hokkaido University. He serves as Director of the Hokkaido Wine Education and Research Center at Hokkaido University (北大北海道ワイン教育研究センター) and Dean of the Graduate School of Global Food Resources (国際食資源学院), and is a council member of the Japan Society for Enology and Viticulture (日本ブドウ・ワイン学会) and Vice Chair of the Geographical Indication (GI) Hokkaido Usage Management Committee (地理的表示（GI）北海道使用管理委員会).
Sample Menu
※ The menu may change.
- Corn dog with Matsumae tuna and Etanbetsu (江丹別) blue cheese
- Hors d'oeuvre (オドゥブレ) with tofu cream
- Smoked snow crab vichyssoise
- Poached salmon with miso cream and herb oil
- Venison with cold-hardened spinach (寒締めほうれん草) and haskap sauce
- Japanese pear pie with vanilla ice cream
Wines to Be Served
※ The labels are the current plan and may change.
Domaine Takahiko
- Yoichi Nobori "Nakai Blanc 2024" (ヨイチノボリ「ナカイブラン2024」)
- Nanatsumori Rosé de Noir "Grand Cuvée 2024" (ナナツモリ ロゼ ド ノワール「グランキュベ2024」)
- Nanatsumori "パストゥグラン2024"
- Nanatsumori "Pinot Noir 2024" (ナナツモリ「ピノ・ノワール2024」)
de Montille & Hokkaido
- 「融」2024 (Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Kerner)
- 「探」2022 (Pinot Noir)
Wineries at the Tasting Hall
A total of 30 wineries are planned to take part. The lineup may change or be added to.
Wineries whose labels can be chosen for the 3 glasses of wine included in the General Ticket (¥6,000)
- Ikeda: Tokachi Wine (十勝ワイン, 池田町ブドウ・ブドウ酒研究所)
- Obihiro: Aizawa Winery (相澤ワイナリー)
- Memuro: MEMURO WINERY (めむろワイナリー)
- Otofuke: Tokachigaoka Winery (十勝が丘ワイナリー)
- Nayoro: 森臥
- Higashikawa: 雪川醸造
- Furano: Furano Wine (ふらのワイン)
- Nakafurano: Domaine Raison (ドメーヌ レゾン)
- Takikawa: Ebeotsu Wein (えべおつWein)
- Mikasa: YAMAZAKI WINERY (ヤマザキワイナリー)
- Mikasa: Hamada Vineyard (濱田ヴィンヤード)
- Iwamizawa: Hosui Winery (宝水ワイナリー)
- Sapporo: Sapporo Fujino Winery (さっぽろ藤野ワイナリー)
- Sapporo: Sapporo Wine (さっぽろワイン)
- Chitose: Chitose Winery (千歳ワイナリー)
- Toyako: Tsukiura Winery (月浦ワイナリー)
- Otaru: Hokkaido Wine (北海道ワイン)
- Yoichi: Yoichi Winery (余市ワイナリー)
- Yoichi: Camel Farm Winery (キャメルファームワイナリー)
- Yoichi: 山田堂
- Niki: NIKI Hills Winery (ニキヒルズ ワイナリー)
- Otobe: Otobe Winery (おとべワイナリー)
- Kaminokuni: Kaminokuni Winery (上ノ国ワイナリー)
- Okushiri: Okushiri Winery (奥尻ワイナリー)
- Hakodate: Hakodate Wine (はこだてわいん)
Additional paid labels for General Ticket holders (40 ml per glass, ¥800)
- Niki: Domaine ICHI (ドメーヌ イチ)
- Niki: Domaine Bless (ドメーヌ ブレス)
- Niki: Pur. (ピュール)
- Yoichi: Mongakudani Winery (モンガク谷ワイナリー)
- Hokuto: Due Punti Vineyards (ドゥエ プンティ ヴィンヤーズ)
Event Overview
- Event name: Akarenga Wine Garden 2026 (赤れんがワインガーデン2026)
- Period: Saturday, November 21 to Sunday, November 22, 2026 (2 days)
- Hours:
- Saturday, November 21: 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM
- Sunday, November 22: 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
- Venue: Former Hokkaido Government Office Building (Akarenga), 2nd-floor Akarenga Hall and 1st-floor restaurant "HOUSE.H"
- Address: 1 Kita 3-jo Nishi 6-chome, Chuo-ku, Sapporo
- Admission:
- General: ¥6,000 (tax included). Includes Akarenga admission, 3 glasses of wine, special finger food from the restaurant "HOUSE.H," a souvenir for the first visitors each day, and free participation in the "Academic Lectures" (twice a day, at 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM).
- Premium Dinner with Seminar: ¥22,000 (tax included). Includes a pairing full-course meal, four wines (one glass each), and a producer talk seminar, together with an original wine coaster by Somes Saddle bearing the Akarenga Wine Garden logo.
- Ticket sales: Saturday, October 17 to Friday, November 20, 2026
- Ticket outlets: Doshin Playguide (道新プレイガイド), Sapporo Community Plaza Ticket Center (札幌市民交流プラザ チケットセンター), and Seicomart (セイコーマート) (Secoma code D26112106)
- Event web page: https://moula.jp/articles/trip_eat/entry-9527.html
- Organizers: Hokkaido Shimbun Press (株式会社北海道新聞社), Dentsu Hokkaido (株式会社電通北海道), and Interlink Japan (有限会社インターリンクジャパン)
※ This event is a pre-event ahead of the full-scale event planned for June 2027. It aims to expand consumption and promotion of Hokkaido wine and to develop tourism content that gives visitors from Japan and abroad a reason to visit Hokkaido.
