Daishichi Sake Brewery releases limited kimoto junmai made with rice from revived terraces

The taste of sake is not decided by the brewery’s skill alone. Where the rice was grown also shapes the flavour. Daishichi Sake Brewery in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, has released “Daishichi Kimoto Tokubetsu Junmai Nishitani Tanada” in limited quantities, made with sake rice harvested last autumn in the local Nishitani terraces. This is the second year the brewery has made sake from rice grown on these terraces.

Nishitani Terraces, selected as a “Tsunagu Tanada Isan”

Terraced rice fields are paddies cut into a mountain slope like a staircase. Machinery has difficulty getting in and much of the work is done by hand, so in many parts of Japan farmers have stopped cultivating them. To pass this landscape and its farming on to the next generation, Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries designates outstanding terraces as “Tsunagu Tanada Isan” (Terraced Rice Fields Heritage to Be Passed On). The Nishitani terraces in Nihonmatsu are one of them. Terraces that were once close to being lost have come back to life, and a local brewery turns the rice grown there into sake. It is a small undertaking, but it shows clearly how rice growing and sake brewing are connected through the land.

Kimoto brewing draws out a “soft umami”

Daishichi is a brewery known for kimoto, a traditional method. The shubo, the yeast starter that drives the fermentation of sake, is nurtured slowly while waiting for natural lactic acid bacteria to do their work. Because it takes so much effort, the resulting sake tends to have depth and a firm character. This sake is a “tokubetsu junmai”. Among junmai sake, which is made only with rice, rice koji and water and with no added brewer’s alcohol, those with distinctive ingredients or brewing methods are given this name. President Shichiemon Ota says the sake has turned out with a soft umami, and he hopes people will drink it while picturing the beautiful terrace landscape. It comes in 720 ml bottles at 1,980 yen and is sold at sake shops in Japan and online.

Enjoying it in Europe

This limited release is for the Japanese market, so it is unlikely to appear in European shops. Even so, putting the origin of the rice in the field front and centre will feel familiar to readers used to the idea of terroir in wine. If you come across a Daishichi kimoto sake in Europe, try it first at room temperature, then warmed to a gentle nurukan of around 40 degrees, and compare. Kimoto sake tends to gain fuller umami when warmed, and pairs easily with aged cheese, mushroom dishes and roast meat. The word “Kimoto” on the label is a useful clue when looking for sake of this style.