Photo: Sōkū Jukusei Nama Junmai. Sōkū means “blue sky.”
Photo: Neck label, nama junmai jukusei shu, “unpasteurized, pure rice, matured sake.” Notice the cork.
This sake is nama (unpasteurized), muroka (not charcoal filtered), and jukusei (matured). During John Gauntner’s sake course we visited Fujioka Shuzo, the brewery that creates this delightful elixir, so I happen to know Fujioka-san aged the sake for two years in a tank before bottling it, still nama! It’s made from Yamada Nishiki rice, the alcohol content is 17%, and the seimaibuai is 65 (he milled away 35% of the rice).
Photo: Fujioka-san explaining his brewing process.
Fujioka-san brews 60-70 koku (about 10,800-12,600 liters) each year, and he does it himself (with the help of a few part-time workers) in four somewhat small tanks. He produces only junmai, junmai ginjo, and junmai daiginjo sakes, but varies the rice, aging, and pasteurization to create a range of products. He searched in Europe and found unique 500 ml clear glass bottles (see photos) and seals the bottles with a lined cork. He means to attract the young and hip with these bottles, and said that the 500 ml bottle was just the perfect size for “a man and a woman to share a drink.”
Photo: The tasting room at Fujioka Shuzo.
When we visited the brewery we tasted the Sōkū Junmai Daiginjo (I wrote: “nose: yeast and scent of roses, tastes tart and fresh, silky smooth, sweet finish”), the Junmai ginjo (“sweet, clean nose, voluptuous, medium body, a bit like tasting a candy necklace”) and this lovely aged nama junmai (“hint of chocolate in the nose, with a tease of vanilla, huge umami, great mouth feel”).
Photo: Tasting at home with Riedel stemless, white wine glasses.
The other night we tasted it at home in some Riedel glasses we happen to have that are very close in shape to the Riedel daiginjo glasses. We also tried it in some traditional ochokko, which I think worked better. The nose is so big that the Riedel glasses give you too much alcohol upfront. We also enjoyed how it developed warming up from fridge-cold to close to room temperature. The sake had the same smooth, clean, and rich mouth feel that I remembered. Again, I was amazed by the chocolate nose, just a hint of it—the olfactory experience of chocolate, but not the taste. Absolutely delicious.
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February 10, 2008 at 5:47 am
fightingwindmills
That first photo is marvelous! The textures and how they interact with each other are amazing. The texture of the label, the texture of the glass bottle’s inside bottom as seen from the outside, it even looks like the blue ink has a puffy texture. :) Great job with the photos and this post! (I personally haven’t learned to “appreciate” sake at all.)
Madam says: Domo re: the photo, and be sure to try some really good sake, premium stuff and tell me what you think.
February 14, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Amy
Ah, of course sake tastes different depending on the glass – why haven’t I thought of that?! (Although looking around I have 4 sets of wine glasses in my California house!) I have lots to learn about such things. Do you have a recommendation for a fun shop to buy ochoko and tokkuri around there?
Madam says: Around Yokosuka? I pick up ochoko as I travel everywhere around Japan. What I learned on the John Gauntner sake training is white wine glasses work well for daiginjos, the really fruity ones with fine noses. But John stressed that sake should be enjoyed in whatever you have at hand, that one need not have the perfect glass. After all, some of my favorite wine experiences were in Italy, drinking local plonk out of a short tumbler.
February 16, 2008 at 7:37 am
Jon
Do you know what happened to the Sendai-shi blog of historic photos by Abraham Lincoln? It is no longer there.
Madam says: Hi Jon, I’ll email him and see what happened. Bummer.
February 20, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Amy
Cool, I was wondering about finding them around Yokosuka. I’m not much of a snob about such things, but will look forward to exploring in search of some fun ones. Glad you had a great Aussie trip!
Madam says: If I’m still in Japan when you arrive, please let me know (see “contact me” page).
March 20, 2009 at 5:40 am
Patricia in Tokyo
I’m taking off the Mukune International Sake Brewing Program in Osaka this Sunday morning! Yeehaah! I’ll stop by Fujioka-san and hope he is in the shop. Turns out our group of interns (this group is sake gaijin who live in Japan, so should be a key group) will be visiting Fushimi on Thursday and we’ll have a bit of time. Hoping I can take them all by his place. Haven’t seen him since 2002, so really looking forward to this.
It just kills me that he is steadily making this 3rd generation sake by himself, literally in the shadows of the giants Gekkeikan and Takara/Shochikubai.
WELL, I’m about to be a sake intern and work for a week in the shuzo. Beside myself with hearty glee…
July 28, 2009 at 6:27 am
McAlpine
I am doing a write-up on this sake over on my blog and would like to link to your site on this post. I am drinking the blue label version which uses Yamadabo rice, and not the Yamada Nishiki version. Many of the same flavor profiles are there that you mentioned.
Madam says: Link away…
July 31, 2009 at 5:01 am
McAlpine
Okay. If you haven’t already seen the post, it’s up there.
“Blue Heaven.”