Winemaker Notes
Akita Shurui Seizoh Co. is located in Akita, Japan - one of the country’s top regions, known for producing excellent artisan sake. The brewery maintains this honor, and is proud to have won ten consecutive gold medals at the "National New Sake Awards," the only national sake competition in Japan. They are the only sake house in the history of this prestigious competition to have won this number of consecutive gold medals.
The introduction of the waterwheel in the 17th century, which eliminated the need for the manual polishing of rice grains, allowed Japan to begin producing saké at an industrial level for its greater population. Today Japan remains at the cutting edge of technology in its brewing practices. However, the traditional methods of handcrafted, artisanal saké remain alive in smaller and often family-owned breweries. Many of these showcase local ingredients and focus on microclimates to make what is known as ‘jizake,’ or regional saké.
Saké with the highest milling requirement at 50%, so that 50% of each grain of rice remains unmilled, is called Junmai-Daiginjo. It is, just like Junmai and Junmai-Ginjo, made up solely of water, koji mold, yeast and rice. The categories of saké are established not by rice variety, but by polishing or milling percentages; this category is the highest.