Why French winemaker Richard Geoffroy swapped champagne for sake in Japan
- Seventh-generation vigneron Richard Geoffroy was chef de cave for Dom Pérignon
- After discovering a taste for sake, he decided to start his own brewery in Tateyama, Japan
Tell us about yourself. “I am a seventh-generation vigneron in Champagne [France]. My family was originally from Germany, like many of the Champagne guys. But my childhood and teenage years were focused on trying to break away from wine. I felt wine was too predictable.
“I was meant to take over the estate from my father, but rightly or not, I felt I could achieve more outside the family business to prove myself. I have two older brothers, but they were able to choose their own path so it was left to me. I studied medicine for eight years and became a medical doctor, but I never practised.”
When did you go into winemaking? “The magnet of my roots – the land, the farming, the grapes, the wine, the family – drew me back to winemaking. Instead of going to the family estate, in 1984, I started off at Moët et Chandon and new world sparkling wines in California and Australia, where I learned the basics of winemaking, and then returned to Champagne. I like to say, ‘the origin is the destination’, which is possibly the motto of my life.
“I was at Moët et Chandon from 1984 to 1990, and then I was offered the position of chef de cave at Dom Pérignon in 1990. When I look back, I realise things were clicking together pretty rapidly for me to be called chef de cave for Dom Pérignon after six years’ experience of new world winemaking.”
Why did you leave Dom Pérignon? “I needed a new chapter in my life, the thrill of pursuing a new quest. I’m 66 years old and I could have retired in France; instead of quitting and playing golf and going to Ibiza and getting sun-tanned, I still felt I had quite a bit to say, quite a bit to give, and I have been developing a fascination for Japan for many years.”