Guided Tasting With Winemaker Sonoe Hirabayashi of Six Cloves
Thursday, August 14, 2025, 1700 - 2000
AUGUST 14: SONOE HIRABAYASHI OF SIX CLOVES WINE
Join us for an intimate tasting with one of our most intentional and unique local winemakers, Sonoe Hirabayashi of Six Cloves Wine.
Sonoe was raised in the Nagano Prefecture, which is one of Japan's most culturally rich and quietly respected food regions, known for its deep-rooted fermentation traditions, mountain cuisine, and emerging wine culture. The pristine mountain waters and porous soils concentrate flavors in unique ways. There, her family has been innovating and leading agricultural and fermentation practices for centuries - including her father, who specialized in apples. Japan's Buddhist and Shintoist spiritual framework, which emphasizes cultural sensibility and respect for nature, also guides her approach to winemaking: she is not outside of nature, but integrated as an equal member: mountain, river, sky, tree, human - all parts of the same whole. Balance, flow and deep respect for natural forces inform her efforts to listen and tell the story of each vintage.
So what do you do with a hyper-sensitive palate as a winemaker in a hyper-insensitive culture like ours?
Sonoe follows her nose. And that is what you'll taste in her wines: whispers of delicate nuance, the trickling of water over rocks, a suggestion of spring in the wind, a hint of tradition and precision that leaves you wanting more...or maybe not. It depends on whether you're listening and attuned to someone with a very delicate, but very intentional tap on your shoulder: Turn around. Can you taste that?
Sonoe has crossed geographic, cultural and gender barriers to be here and create wine that tells her story to us. Let's be thankful we have a chance to hear and taste that story, directly from and with her.
In this unique opportunity, Sonoe will share the stories and details behind the making of four of her wines, covering how everything in a vintage - from harvest conditions to pick strategies, press, fermentation and aging practices influenced the outcome. As a group, Sonoe will not only tell us the story behind each wine, but she'll help us identify and taste elements of each stage in her winemaking process.
Doors open at 5:00 PM, Sonoe will pour and discuss each wine in detail from 6:30-7:30 PM and hold an open pour and Q&A from 7:30-8:00 PM. Drop-ins welcome.
https://www.donkeyandgoat.com/upcoming-events/
Category: Food / Drink | Wine
Join us for an intimate tasting with one of our most intentional and unique local winemakers, Sonoe Hirabayashi of Six Cloves Wine.
Sonoe was raised in the Nagano Prefecture, which is one of Japan's most culturally rich and quietly respected food regions, known for its deep-rooted fermentation traditions, mountain cuisine, and emerging wine culture. The pristine mountain waters and porous soils concentrate flavors in unique ways. There, her family has been innovating and leading agricultural and fermentation practices for centuries - including her father, who specialized in apples. Japan's Buddhist and Shintoist spiritual framework, which emphasizes cultural sensibility and respect for nature, also guides her approach to winemaking: she is not outside of nature, but integrated as an equal member: mountain, river, sky, tree, human - all parts of the same whole. Balance, flow and deep respect for natural forces inform her efforts to listen and tell the story of each vintage.
So what do you do with a hyper-sensitive palate as a winemaker in a hyper-insensitive culture like ours?
Sonoe follows her nose. And that is what you'll taste in her wines: whispers of delicate nuance, the trickling of water over rocks, a suggestion of spring in the wind, a hint of tradition and precision that leaves you wanting more...or maybe not. It depends on whether you're listening and attuned to someone with a very delicate, but very intentional tap on your shoulder: Turn around. Can you taste that?
Sonoe has crossed geographic, cultural and gender barriers to be here and create wine that tells her story to us. Let's be thankful we have a chance to hear and taste that story, directly from and with her.
In this unique opportunity, Sonoe will share the stories and details behind the making of four of her wines, covering how everything in a vintage - from harvest conditions to pick strategies, press, fermentation and aging practices influenced the outcome. As a group, Sonoe will not only tell us the story behind each wine, but she'll help us identify and taste elements of each stage in her winemaking process.
Doors open at 5:00 PM, Sonoe will pour and discuss each wine in detail from 6:30-7:30 PM and hold an open pour and Q&A from 7:30-8:00 PM. Drop-ins welcome.
https://www.donkeyandgoat.com/upcoming-events/
Category: Food / Drink | Wine
Starting Price Per Person
$ 15.00 USD
Other Information
Where
Donkey and Goat Winery
1340 Fifth Street
Berkeley California 94710
United States
( Multi-Purpose Events Venue )
1340 Fifth Street
Berkeley California 94710
United States
( Multi-Purpose Events Venue )
Event Organizer Contact
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Event ID: 256133
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