Wakatsuru Sake Brewery Junmai Daiginjo: 'Sui' and 'Kou'
Last Sunday Team carried on with tasting 2 unknown Sakes from a not-so- famous brewery by the name Wakatsuru Brewery. Nonetheless, these 2 sakes are classified the highest class, the Junmai Daiginjo though. ‘Waka’ means young; ‘Tsuru’ means a crane. Well, the name sounds similar to another sake brewery, the White Crane. The rice is from the famous Yamada Nishiki(region Hyogo and Okayama qualifying automatically the Daiginjo class), using the better rice and the best Koji mold, with a milling rate of at 50%, resulted in these 2 Jumai Daiginjos.
Team tasted it because the export manager Taro San, an accomplished sommelier himself, said these 2 are made with food pairing in mind. But is it not sure that Sakes are made for food? Let's remain inquisitive.
The name of the light sale is ‘Sui’, more for seafood; the heavier one is ‘ ‘Kou’ more for yakitori and meat foods. Sui is with ABC 16%, still heavy to us. Milling rate is 50%, with SMW -2, Amino 1.7, acidity 1.1. ‘Kou’, the heavier one, is charged with 17% ABV. Same milling rate, SWV is -4, Amino is 1.7 and acidity is 1.9. Understandably, ‘Kou’ is much stronger and bodied. Surely both sakes are finished using long and cold fermentation, very hand-on approach, reflecting the traditional methods and attitude. So on the whole both wines at opening seems light and refine. It is delicate, with some complexities and elegant aromatics. Exposed to air, the peculiar fragrances and styles are released. We are told that only 6000 bottles are made each year.
A naturally clear brew, this sake is extracted from Yamada Nishiki rice (sought after for high quality sake production), then bottled without filtering. The lack of filtration gives this sake a punchy umami flavor. Juding on the price, these 2 sakes seem very good valued. These 2 sakes were just release on 26 June 2015 to Hong Kong.
Team seems to like ‘Sui’ better mainly because ‘Kou’ is stronger than the ones we have been tasting. As that is a short tasting, Team cannot really verify the quality. Team will find chance to study on the feasibility of comparing similar Jumai Daiginjos. Price is indeed very very interesting.`
