Tamura Cidre Sweet and Tamura Cidre Brut produced by Shoji Tamura, 58, of Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, were awarded the Pomme d’Or prize in the International Cider Fair Apfelwein Weltweit held in Frankfurt, Germany, in April. Tamura became the first Japanese to win the prize, only three years after the products were put on sale.
Tamura, head of Tamura Farm, produces the brands of cider – sparkling wine made of apples – at his farm, giving weight on flavor and aroma. Talking happily about the prize, Tamura said: “Japanese cider is recognized internationally. Now I can be confident of the quality (of the products).”
Born in 1958 as a son of a businessman and having studied law at university, Tamura took a job at a fruit and vegetable dealing firm in Hirosaki. After being assigned to sales of processed products, he became fascinated by apples. “I was trying to sell apple juice, but customers asked for fresh apples. I began thinking about making apples myself,” he said. He quit the company in 1989, bought a 3-hectare apple farm and became an apple farmer.
In 1991, after losing 90 percent of his apples due to a typhoon, he realized the need to focus on processing. First he entrusted processing to a contractor, then built an apple pie factory and started selling products processed at his farm in 2011. In 2013, he converted his business to a corporation, and began sales of cider produced by another firm using his apples. In 2014, he established a winery and obtained a brewer’s license, taking advantage of the fact that Hirosaki has been designated a special zone for producing house wine and cider.
Currently, Tamura Farm runs a 12-hectare orchard. Its annual sales total roughly 100 million yen, including 240 tons of apples, processed products such as apple pies and cider.
Tamura said he compared the taste of various cider brands and came to the conclusion that imported products do not fit the Japanese people’s tastes. “We developed our cider brands thinking that Japanese consumers would feel happy if we created what we want to drink,” he said. “The basic point is to have delicious fresh apples. I think our cider could win the prize because of the high quality of Japanese apples.”