About Us

♦ Concept ♦

Cepages is a company with adiverse portfolio that is focused almost exclusively on small growers.

Cepages searches for wine growers who farm their vineyards using sustainable, organic or biodynamic practices, are passionate in their zeal to make the best wines they can and are considered to be exemplary producers in their appellation.

We choose wines that express their origins, the talent and commitment of the growers and wine makers, and the inherent quality of the vintage. All wines should be balanced, immediately enjoyable to drink and each glass should call for another one.

Cepages focused on French wines only. Particular strengths here are the Southern France (Southern Rhone, Languedoc and Roussillon), Burgundy and Champagne; we are always working to improve our selection.

♦ The Team ♦

Every wine we stock is tasted, retasted, debated.... this is a company where everyone who works here actually loves wine, drinks wine with food, and knows at least a little bit about what we're selling. We want to share these wines with others. We strive to give our customers a full understanding of who the people are that we represent. It is our hope that providing as much information as we can in a professional manner will show our belief and passion in the wines we offer.

We strive to run the company in a way that values our customers and shows it by providing excellent service with a knowledgeable and professional staff. Our sales team and office team is a group of seasoned veterans of the wine business.

We don’t use any agent, we know all growers personally and visit them every year. We import their wines, market them and distribute them to restaurants, hotels, wholesalers throughout Japan.

COO: Yves RINGLER

Yves, a biochemistry engineer, has been sharing his life between his estate in Southern Rhone and his interests in wine in Japan. Thanks to his contacts among friends-vignerons, he was able to assemble a superb portfolio of high quality domaines for Cepages.
Until 2019, he also owned a wine bar called ‘Le Terroir’ in Mejiro - Tokyo where he could share his passion about wine with his customersthrough monthly wine seminars.
Yves’ primary focus is to look for up - and - coming or well established, exceptional, family-owned producers of hand - crafted wines fromall over France.

CEO: Yoshitaka KONNO

The Lehman shock economic crisis happened Konno-san was working in financial institutions for already 30 years. He took this opportunity to obtain a sommelier qualification and joined M.Ringler to jump into the world of wine imports.

"When I was working in a financial institution, I used to travel all over the world for work, and I was really looking forward to enjoy a nice glass of wine and good food after work. Including wines from Southern France.
South of France is a resort area that the world envy, but in the world of wine it was a little disappointing compared to Bordeaux and Burgundy. However, the situation globaly changed since the 1990's.
There are two reasons for that. One is that many young winemakers have accumulated ingenuity and overturned their reputation as a daily wine in Southern France. Second, as a result, the cost performance was significantly improved.
Taking advantage of this experience, we aim to expand the taste of new wines together with Japanese wine lovers."