No.8692   2004. 3. 2

Suntory is to release Suntory Light Wine “Chill”
— Developed rich tasted wine under the proof of 7% —

Suntory Ltd. (Head Office: Osaka, President: Nobutada Saji) is to release Suntory Light Wine “Chill” (Red / White, 500 ml per bottle) for 500 yen from 16 March 2004 throughout Japan. Suntory has successfully realized rich tasted wine with about half of the proof of ordinary wines.

Wine has come to be drunk on Japanese everyday life at various drinking scenes. However, since the wine consumption rate in Japan still remains to be lower than that of the world at average, the wine market in Japan is expected to grow further in the medium and long term perspective by promoting the appeal of wine.

Suntory has also received customer’s demand, mainly from young-aged customers, for wines that “can be enjoyed casually” and are “quaffable”. It is due to the increasing number of people, who enjoy creating rich dining scenes in their everyday life.

In this surrounding, Suntory Research Institute has continuously challenged on developing wine that is “quaffable” and “light (low alcoholic proof)”, with “rich taste”, to promote the appeal of wine to a wider range of customers.

Suntory Light Wine “Chill” has been realized by gathering continuous Suntory’s researched technologies on fruit wine, beer and others, as the all-round alcohol beverage manufacturer, and has developed a new manufacturing process from fruit juice production to fermentation. As a result, Suntory succeded to produce the rich tasted wine with fruity and refreshing aroma, despite its proof of less than 7%. ”Chill” can be casually drunk in a broad range of scenes and offers balanced sweetness and vinegary taste that matches varied meals. Moreover, it can also be served chilled and to be promoted as new wine drinking style. “Light Wine <Chill>” is named to pass the messages of “quaffable”, “casual style”, and “chill”, to the market.

Suntory is to actively proceed in expanding Japanese wine market, by proposing wine with new values, as the wine’s leading company.

• Feature of Content

5°C is set to be the appropriate temperature for drinking “Chill”. This is the temperature of red wine when it is taken out of a fridge at home. Also, it is casually quaffable, by setting its proof to be less than 7%, which is about half proof of ordinary wine with approximately 12 to 14 %.

Light Wine “Chill”, Red (Light Body)
Red wine that offers rich fruity and smooth taste when chilled.

Light Wine “Chill”, White (Subtly Sweet)
White wine that offers refreshing vinegary taste and fruity aroma when chilled.

• New Manufacturing Process

By fermenting clean and clear juice with two types of yeasts, richly tasted wine with fruity and fresh aroma is realized despite its proof of less than 7 %.

Producing Clean and Clear Juice

Concentrated grape juice from Argentina is used as the ingredient for the wine. In order to make the best grape juice, Suntory has thoroughly proceeded to improve production processes from harvesting grapes to producing clean and clear (clarification) juice. It succeeded in the development of producing clean and clear juice excluding bitterness or harsh taste, while keeping the aroma of good grapes. Fresh aroma is realized by getting rid of grapes’ skin and seeds in production, which cause unpleasant taste.

Fermentation Technology

In order to bring out “rich taste” with “fruity aroma”, Suntory selected two types of yeasts out of many, and utilized the acquired technology in areas of beer, and whisky, adding improvement on wine fermentation process.*2. Although it is generally regarded to be difficult to control fermentation of several yeasts, Suntory fixed out the most suitable condition for yeasts to function and pursued fermentation of the wine.

*2 “Discovery Analysis of Yeasts in Fermenting Wine by DNA Microarray”, which Suntory Ltd. publicized at “the Contest 2003 of ASEV Japan”, received the “Best Paper Award 2003”.

• About Packaging

The bottle adopted star cut design to produce sparkling effects depending on light’s angle and to present “lightness” and “chilled taste” of the wine. The design lights up a dining table, for instance in the occasion of a home party.

The label design, “LIGHT WINE CHILL” is written on as outline characters so that wine bottles will loom out in cold storage showcases on sales floor. Also, the bird’s motif is to express “closeness” and “flying image”. The screw cap is adopted to suit various occasions of drinking scenes and to be casually drunk at home and outdoors.

* Homepage for Suntory Light Wine “Chill”: http://suntory.jp/LIGHTWINE/

• Name of product, Type/ Flavor, Volume/ Packaging, Suggested retail price (excluding consumer tax), Proof, Types

• Release date and sales region
16th of March, 2004, Japan nationwide

For enquiry of the information, please contact
Suntory Customer Center Toll free number: 0120-0139-310
(Osaka) Dojimahama 2-1-40, Kita-ku, Osaka, 530-8203, Japan
(Tokyo) Moto-Akasaka 1-2-3, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-8430, Japan
Wine website: http://www.suntory.co.jp/wine/