Japanese couple threatened with eviction for producing exceptional wine

The prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales region has warned that Rié and Hirofumi Shoji's winery is not profitable. In Banyuls-sur-Mer, the Japanese couple produce an exceptional “natural” red wine.

On September 6, magistrates from the administrative court in Montpellier (Hérault) will have to decide whether to expel Rié and Hirofumi Shoji, a Japanese winemaking couple in their thirties from Banyuls-sur-Mer (Pyrénées-Orientales), who arrived in France in 2011. In a mind-boggling case, this is what the Pyrénées-Orientales prefecture has been demanding since last April. And that's what it is still arguing today in a brief submitted on Thursday to Jean Codognès, the lawyer for the two winegrowers.

For the past few days, Rié and Hirofumi Shoji have been living in fear, stressed by the prospect of having to leave what they have built up on the heights of Collioure with patience, determination and talent: plots of land covering 3.5 ha to produce Pedres Blanques, an exceptional “natural” red wine, star of the latest Indigènes trade show and now referenced at El Celler de Can Roca, in Girona, Catalonia (Spain), the world's largest restaurant in 2016. "To ask these two workers of the land to leave France, the prefecture points to the lack of profitability of their business. The administration's experts believe that their business is not viable, that they won't be able to survive while the price of their bottles soars. Even though they are up to date with all their contributions and payments. They have invested €100,000 of their own money and borrowed €50,000 from the bank. In this case, we're walking on our heads!" exclaims Maître Jean Codognès, who has requested mediation, to no avail. And he hopes that common sense and relevance will once again be invited to re-read the documents.

The wine produced by Rié and Hirofumi Shoji finds its way onto the best tables and into the best cellars, like the one run by Paul Delliaas in Banyuls-sur-mer/topsud news

The wine produced by Rié and Hirofumi Shoji finds its way onto the best tables and into the best cellars, like the one run by Paul Delliaas in Banyuls-sur-mer.

“It's a caricature of what young people go through when they set up shop”

"This wine? We could sell tens of thousands of bottles. In fact, we don't sell them anymore. We reserve them for our restaurant customers. We can't let Rié and Hirofumi go," adds Jan Paul Delliaas from the Caveau des 9 Caves in Banyuls, where a mobilization is taking shape. "This affair is absurd. It's a perfect caricature of what young winemakers are going through when they set up to make natural wines. They have to work hard to create an economic model," says Alain Potié, author of the Roussillon wine bible.

"The prefecture says that Rié and Hirofumi Shoji could never make a living from their wine to the tune of €2,000. But they're not the only ones in this situation in Roussillon", continues Jean Codognès, who highlights the exemplary career of these wine enthusiasts. They embarked on a veritable tour of France, working as farm hands or cellar workers to train in the great estates of Bordeaux and Burgundy, to become qualified oenologists and farmers. Then, they put down their undeniable talent on the age-old, vertiginous plots of land of the Côte Vermeille. “If France doesn't want us, then we'll leave”, they say simply. Humiliated and shocked.