Prefecture: Hyogo/Aichi
Rice Variety: Yamada Nishiki
Seimaibuai (Rice polishing ratio): 35%
ABV: 16%
Elevating Sake to new frontiers is Kuheiji's 2023 Betsu Atsurae Junmai Daiginjo. This is an elegant, light-bodied yet complex sake we immediately fell in love with at first taste. Think back to being a child and opening a jewelry box to be mesmerized by music and a dancing ballerina. That is the feeling.
The sake rice used for Kuheiji Betsu Atsurae is 100% Yamada Nishiki harvested in the Kurodasho area in Hyogo prefecture. The rice is polished down to 35% of the rice grain remaining. Putting your nose in the glass (we used a white wine glass), one notices fragrant white flowers, shaved fennel, a dollop of peach, and light pineapple. The sake mildly coats your palate with good acidity present and lifted structure. It is neutral like rainwater in terms of sweetness and ends with a glimmering finish.
Kuheiji is the most innovative Sake brewery we have come across so far. They are incorporating Wines' sensibilities, like caring about terroir and paying attention to different soil types in the rice fields, making sakes with higher acid, using estate-grown rice and vintage-dating their sakes-- something no other sake brewery, that we know of, is presently doing. These practices express themselves when you drink their sake.
Earlier in October, we attended a seminar with Brewery President Kuno Kuheiji (representing the 15th generation of his family making sake, going back to 1647) as we tasted their entire lineup available in the US, (including another one of their Sakes with a much higher price point, tasting them side-by-side), and we were left extremely happy with the quality of Betsu Atsurae. But we urge you to taste all of the sakes Kuheiji makes, which are glorious expressions in and of themselves.
