Sparkling Sake Season – Yes! Time To Match Your Bubbles With Rice and Caviar

T’is the season for that other sparkling wine stuff sometimes called Champagne. As the young would say, “whatever.” Since you’re a True Sake Newsletter reader you know that we have been extolling the virtues of sparkling sake every New Years Eve for the past 20 years. We try to rattle your psyche to get sparkling sake in the conversation, and it’s been working. Sparkling sake has been one of our fastest and largest growing segments, and that trend continues to go up.

But, there are still one or two of you who have not personally indulged and discovered which brew is for you in a segment that has so many different offerings. 

We carry over 20 different sparkling sakes, and they cover the spectrum of feelings and flavors, and it’s really a good idea for you to peruse the Sparkling Sake Section at www.truesake.com (sparkling) to pick a few sparkling sakes to enjoy this December.

That said, and since my job is never done, I have decided to try one more “angle” to get you in the Sparkling Sake conversation, and I’ll do it using my wife and Caviar! Yup, in a word sparkling sake works extremely well with fish eggs, and it so happens to be my wife’s favorite style of sake. Her absolute favorite is Ichinokura “Wabi.”

We recently were gifted a big ol’ tin of excellent Caviar that we paired with a tin that we purchased at Costco to bring two types (clean and savory, and salty or briny) to our tasting with a selection of Sparkling Sakes that I thought would do well. 

This is where the word “Awa” pops up, and you should know that because it means sparking sake and it is the association in Japan that has defined a type of Sparkling Sake that has strict rules and regulations sort of like that Champagne stuff. There is a sparkling sake association called the “Japan Awasake Association” that essentially establishes a certification program for the control and standards of certain sparkling sake. These sparkling products are definitely more in-line with the Champagne method producing clean, crisp, and more brute-like sparkling sake.

But most sparkling sake (that we sell) are more from the natural reaction of fermenting sake and tend to be sweeter with more creamy bubbles and with a little touch of lees (unfermented rice particles) in the fluid. These are less “rigid” in structure and nature, and tend to be more fun and casual.

We selected the Kaika Sparkling Junmai Ginjo “Awa” and Shichiken Sparkling “Yama no Kasumi” to represent the Awasake Association style, and Otokoyama Sparkling “Kita no Inaho” and Fukucho “Seaside” Sparkling to represent the more casual sparkling samples that tend to be a little more sweet. And to be perfectly honest they all had some very Shichiken Usu Nigori Sparkling "Yama no Kasumi" awesome positives and worked better than anticipated. In a word they all four “excelled” with both types of Caviar. 

My favorite pairings were the Kaika and Shichiken. The Kaika was out of this world in that it actually worked exactly like Champagne, and created a Royal or King and Queen-like pairing experience that was rich, but clean, and extolled the umami aspect of pairing with a fish eggs. The Shichiken became so very elegant and gentle with a very soft rice-like flavor and soft nuanced finish. It was really cool how gentle the pairing went. My wife went the other direction and thought the gentle sweetness of the Otokoyama just knocked the pairing out of the park by elevating the heavy concentrated flavor of the Caviar and made a far more refreshing pairing. It was like fun complexity, and that carried over to the Seaside, which was specifically made for seafood. This pairing actually went the way of a dryer union that was rich and highlighted starch dryness that actually almost went tannin-like. She loved that, especially with the saltier Caviar. 

We dare you to bring sparkling sake to your next Caviar experience. And we know several Caviar retailers and producers who read this Newsletter and we welcome your participation. Sure you can do Vodka or brute-like sparkling wines, but there is so much more umami in sake, and that is what impressed us the most with our pairing!

Get your sparkle on! 

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