The “Beau-Zone” Layer – Tenmei “Orange Label”

From Fukushima Prefecture. 
Junmai.
SMV: +2 Acidity: 1.6

So my pick this month is for two reasons! The first is to mention that the International Wine Challenge (IWC) is this month in Hiroshima Prefecture, and this sake has won GOLD at the IWC in the Junmai category, which is very hard to do! And the second reason is that I just got back from Fukushima where I visited this very killer and very smart Akebono Shuzo “Tenmei” sake brewery. Let’s just say intelligent sake will always win gold if it’s balanced and delicious. 

Owner and brewer Kouichi Suzuki is one cool sake renegade! He is a “Toji” or master brewer, but he scoffs at the concept of “Toji Guilds” and actually dropped out of the very famous fermenting university in Tokyo, where most of his peers attended. He just wanted to make sake his way, and has invented several brewing techniques and pieces of equipment that I have not seen in any other sake brewery (koji trays on wheels with wooden slat bottoms that can be removed for more air and drying ease). He also invented “Hand Kimoto,” but I’ll write about that in another Newsletter. Kouichi is sort of a mad sake genius, and even this brew is a new twist on an old brewing technique called Sandan Jikomi that is famous for using a 3 step technique. Suzuki-san actually uses 4 different rice varieties for this “Orange Label” and uses different rice on each addition. Sort of crazy, but the result is superb. 

In a word, Suzuki-san is a freak about freshness! And when you taste this sake, you will get it instantly. He literally made me feel a pipe that had his fermented and pressed sake running through it to feel how cold the pipe was at certain stages of the movement of the sake to the bottling room. He drilled into me that he doesn’t put stress on his sake from the koji to the moromi, and to the bottling room. “Stress free sake results in fresher sake,” and I am a total believer. Give this “Orange Label” a try and taste the genius and the IWC Gold medal in one glass.