Lot presentation

Chichibu Collection Aki Kuroda x LMDW (4 bottles and 4 signed oil-on-paper paintings)

The wine

Donated by the Chichibu distillery
“In my face, there are many faces [...]. And the world too has many faces,” explains Aki Kuroda (born 1944), a prolific Japanese artist known for his murals, performances, stage designs and work with renowned architects such as Tadao Ando and Richard Rogers.
It is no coincidence that this Japanese artist’’s self-portraits have been chosen by La Maison du Whisky to adorn these exclusive versions of Chichibu matured in four different types of cask, one an especially surprising cask previously used for a wine made from a Japanese grape variety. Like the different facets of a single persona, these four unique casks explore Chichibu’’s savoir-faire and the very different temperaments of a single creative spirit. Produced with oil on paper, the faces painted by Aki Kuroda recall the ancestral tradition of masks while at the same time affirming a very expressive modernity, in a style that verges on abstraction. They reflect an identity that is resolutely contemporary and yet nourished by tradition, much like Chichibu itself. This series of self-portraits produced has been chosen to illustrate the labels of the first of each numbered bottle in the range, selected for the Antipodes creation catalogue. These four bottles were created exclusively for the auction, during which the original paintings (with an estimated value of over €4,000 each) will also be available (87 x 74 cm each).

Chichibu 8 Year Old 2013
Chichibu Wine cask
Japan, Single Malt – 61%, 70 cl
Single Cask No. 9664 – Ex Japanese Wine Cask
Limited edition of 262 bottles.
An LMDW exclusive.

Chichibu 6 Year Old 2015
Heavily Peated
Japan, Single Malt – 63.9%, 70 cl
Single Cask No. 4660 – Second Fill Bourbon Barrel
Limited edition of 214 bottles.
An LMDW exclusive.

Chichibu 7 Year Old 2014
Peated Cask
Japan, Single Malt – 64.3%, 70 cl
Single Cask No. 3812 – Second Fill Bourbon Barrel
Limited edition of 187 bottles.
An LMDW exclusive.

Chichibu 8 Year Old 2013
Virgin Oak
Japan, Single Malt – 61%, 70 cl
Single Cask No. 2856 – New barrel Virgin Oak
Limited edition of 176 bottles.
An LMDW exclusive.

About the Producer Chichibu

Japan, Saitama. Distillery operational. Owner: Venture Whisky.

Independent & family-ownedIt was in 2007 that Ichiro Akuto, grandson of the founder of the Hanyu distillery, built a new distillery in the north-west of Tokyo, in Saitama Prefecture. Named Chichibu after the city where its located, it brought to a close several decades marked by the closure of numerous production sites, and enabled Ichiro Akuto to renew his family's history of expertise. Despite its small size (production capacity of 80,000 LPA/yr), Chichibu quickly drew attention and became highly sought-after. It was under the name “New Born” that Ichiro sold exclusively his malt for three years. In 2011, the first edition of a small batch Chichibu named The First was released (7,400 bottles). It was immediately welcomed by distributors and the world's whisky enthusiasts, putting Chichibu on the fast-track to becoming a distillery with strong potential as a collectible. Since then, Ichiro has released numerous single casks to respond to consumer demand, increasing the distillery's appeal among collectors. And its next goal? To produce a whisky whose origins is completely Japanese, using local malt and peat.