Pacific Link Project First Release Château Mercian Iwade Koshu Amicis 2023 to be launched on April 2

● Launch of the “Pacific Link Project”, the first project in which Mercian Corporation and Viña Concha y Toro have collaborated to produce wine together.
● Château Mercian Iwade Koshu Amicis 2023 to be released on April 2.
● Mercian will export Château Mercian Iwade Koshu Amicis 2023 to Singapore in the spring.

TOKYO, April, 2 2024 – Mercian Corporation (Mercian) and Viña Concha y Toro (Concha y Toro) have launched the “Pacific Link Project”, the first time that the two companies have collaborated to produce wines together. Its first product, Château Mercian Iwade Koshu Amicis 2023, will be released nationwide on April 2. In addition, exports to Singapore will begin this spring.

Château Mercian has been well received by customers, with sales reaching 1 billion yen for the first time in 2023. Furthermore, we are also expanding our overseas sales against the backdrop of growing attention to Japanese wines; in addition to the United Kingdom, the United States, Hong Kong, and Singapore, we newly started exporting to Italy in 2023.

In the course of this project, the winemakers of Château Mercian and Concha y Toro, Chile’s No. 1*1 winery, will continue to travel back and forth between their wineries, alternately producing a Château Mercian Japanese wine for a more global market and a Concha y Toro Chilean wine for Japanese customers. Under the four concepts of “Innovative,” “Sustainability,” “Global,” and “Luxury,” the winemakers will utilize their knowledge of both Japan and Chile in winemaking and marketing, aiming to make Japanese wines more attractive in Japan and abroad and Chilean wines more premium in Japan.
*1 INTELVID-Chile 2022.

The first product of the project, Château Mercian Iwade Koshu Amicis 2023, is a white wine that takes advantage of the taste of Koshu, a grape variety indigenous to Japan, while having a well-balanced acidity and sweetness that makes it more drinkable for overseas customers, thanks to our collaboration with the Concha y Toro winemakers.

The Japanese wine market shrank by 3% year-on-year in 2023 due to a decline in the drinking population, a decrease in the wine drinking population, and an exodus of customers to other categories such as RTDs.*2
*2 Abbreviation for Ready to Drink: alcoholic beverages that can be drunk straight from the bottle.

Through the “Pacific Link Project,” we will work to “add value” to wine, communicate the appeal of wine to customers, and revitalize the wine market.

Comment from Aya Jindo, Marketing Department, Mercian Corporation

Mercian and Concha y Toro have each been making sustainable wine in harmony with nature and their region since their inception. Both companies also continue to pursue the high quality of taste that customers demand. Although the countries and winemaking environments are different, the companies’ shared belief in winemaking and desire for a better future resonated with each other and led to the realization of this project. Through it, we hope to advance each other’s winemaking and contribute to a more attractive future for the wine industry.

The Four Pacific Link Project Concepts

Innovative

The winemakers from Japan and Chile will work together to make wine under a joint project, collaborating to expand their knowledge and diversity in winemaking.
The project will continue to bring innovation to winemaking year by year and to provide new surprises and excitement to our customers.

Sustainable

We will mutually advance the sustainable winemaking initiatives of Mercian and Concha y Toro.
We aim to achieve carbon neutrality by planting enough trees in Chile to offset the greenhouse gases*3 emitted by the project’s winemaking process. (The first tree was planted on March 6, 2024.)
*3 By calculating greenhouse gas emissions from wine production, transportation, etc..

Global

We will introduce the value of Japanese wine to Concha y Toro’s global markets.
In 2024, we will expand Château Mercian’s exports to Singapore through Concha y Toro sales channels.

Luxury

We will aim to premiumize Château Mercian in the global wine market.
We will aim to premiumize Concha y Toro’s Chilean wines in the Japanese market.
We will develop a new drinking audience both in Japan and abroad by implementing promotions developed based on research into affluent consumers in Japan and Asia.

Château Mercian Iwade Koshu Amicis 2023

This wine has a good balance of fresh fruit flavors and fullness, along with aromas of Japanese citrus fruits yuzu, and nuances of white flowers. This wine is the result of collaboration between the winemakers of Concha y Toro and Château Mercian, bringing together the experience and skills of both companies. Please enjoy the harmony of these two world-class philosophies. It is named "Amicis" meaning "friends", as this wine will further deepen the bond between Concha y Toro and Château Mercian.

About Kirin Holdings

Kirin Holdings Company, Limited is an international company that operates in the Food & Beverages domain (Food & Beverages businesses), Pharmaceuticals domain (Pharmaceuticals businesses), and Health Science domain (Health Science business), both in Japan and across the globe.

Kirin Holdings can trace its roots to Japan Brewery which was established in 1885. Japan Brewery became Kirin Brewery in 1907. Since then, the company expanded its business with fermentation and biotechnology as its core technologies, and entered the pharmaceutical business in the 1980s, all of which continue to be global growth centers. In 2007, Kirin Holdings was established as a pure holding company and is currently focusing on boosting its Health Science domain.

Under the Kirin Group Vision 2027 (KV 2027), a long-term management plan launched in 2019, the Kirin Group aims to become “A global leader in CSV*, creating value across our world of Food & Beverages to Pharmaceuticals.” Going forward, the Kirin Group will continue to leverage its strengths to create both social and economic value through its businesses, with the aim of achieving sustainable growth in corporate value.

* Creating Shared Value: combined added value for consumers as well as for society at large.

GALLERY