TOMIOKA, Fukushima -- A winery that will produce wine made from grapes locally grown in Tomioka is scheduled to open in 2025 and start selling its first bottles the following year in a project that will symbolize the town's recovery from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.
The Tomioka Winery is due to be completed in spring 2025, make wine from grapes harvested that autumn, and begin sales of this batch in spring 2026.
A Shinto ceremony to purify the construction site, east of JR Tomioka Station, was held June 6.
東日本大震災からの復興に取り組む福島県富岡町に、地元産ブドウを使ったワインを醸造する「とみおかワイナリー」が誕生する。２０２５年春の完成予定で、同年秋に収穫されたブドウを使って「とみおかワイン」を醸造、２６年春に販売を開始する。6月6日、同町のＪＲ富岡駅東側にある建設予定地で地鎮祭が行われた。
Tomioka-based winemaking company Futaba Lares will construct the winery. In spring 2016, the company's president, Shubun Endo, and some interested parties from the town began experimentally planting grapes on a hill near the coast. Endo established the general incorporated association Tomioka-wine Domaine in 2018 and has expanded the vineyard on the eastern side of the station, which was hit hard by the tsunami triggered by the massive earthquake. Tomioka was also severely affected by the ensuing accident at the nearby Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc.
ワイナリーは、富岡町のワイン醸造会社「ふたばラレス」が建設する。遠藤秀文社長と町民有志が16年春から、沿岸部の丘でブドウの試験栽培を開始。18年には「とみおかワインドメーヌ」を設立、津波被害があった富岡駅東側にも農園を広げてきた。富岡町は東京電力福島第１原発事故でも大きな被害を受けた。
About 12,500 grape plants had been planted at the vineyard as of spring 2024. The company plans to eventually increase this number to about 16,000, equal to Tomioka's population before the disaster. In 2020, grapes harvested from the vineyard were made into the first batch of "Tomioka wine" at the Kawauchi Winery in the village of Kawauchi, Fukushima Prefecture. Constructing the new winery will enable the creation of the first Tomioka wine made in the town from grapes also grown there.
今春までにブドウ約１万２５００本を植えており、今後は震災前の同町の人口と同じ約１万６０００本まで増やす計画。２０年には収穫したブドウを使い、かわうちワイナリー（川内村）で醸造して初の「とみおかワイン」を完成させた。自社ワイナリーの整備で、同町で醸造した初の「とみおかワイン」が完成する。
The new winery will be a two-story wooden building with a total floor area of about 400 square meters. The site is where Endo's home once stood and will feature and reuse the sole storehouse that survived the disaster. In addition to wine production facilities and a wine shop, the winery will have a restaurant serving meals made from locally grown ingredients, which customers can enjoy with wine. A facility assisting wine production will be built at the vineyard near the station.
建設するワイナリーは木造２階建てで、延べ床面積は約４００平方メートル。建設予定地は遠藤社長の自宅跡地で、被災後も唯一残った蔵を再利用する。醸造所と販売所があり、レストランでは地元食材と一緒にワインが楽しめるようにする。駅近くのブドウ畑には醸造補助施設も整備する。
Attendees at the June 6 ceremony included Endo; Naomi Endo, the company's director; and Junichiro Hosokawa, who is in charge of making the wine.
"It's taken eight years to finally reach this point," Shubun Endo said. "I want to make this winery the face of Tomioka and a symbol of its reconstruction. I hope many people will visit Tomioka and get a sense of the reconstruction process here."
６月６日の地鎮祭には遠藤社長や遠藤直美取締役、醸造を担当する細川順一郎さんらが出席。遠藤社長は「８年かかってようやくこぎ着けた。復興のシンボルとして、町の顔となるワイナリーにしたい。多くの人に富岡に来てもらい、復興のプロセスを感じてもらえる拠点にする」と話した。
Endo's father, Katsuya Endo, was the mayor of Tomioka when the disaster struck. Shubun Endo, who also runs the construction consulting firm Futaba Inc., is determined to make this wine venture a success.
While wearing a happi coat bearing the name of the cement company that was the foundation of the family business, he said, "I want to carry on the principles of the Endo family and contribute to the town's revitalization."
（ Translated by The Japan News ）
遠藤社長の父は震災時の富岡町長だった故遠藤勝也さん。建設コンサルタント・ふたばも経営する遠藤社長は、家業の基となった「遠藤セメント工業」の法被を身にまとい「遠藤家の思いを背負い、復興に寄与したい」と意気込んだ。
【 ２０２４年６月７日付・福島民友新聞掲載 】
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