Hanatomoe Junmai Daiginjo Yamahai Muroka Nama Genshu "Jun Dai Dai"
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Tart and lightly bitter, like some wild, irreverent crossbreed of Aperol and sake. Beautifully complex, sweet-sour, with notes of bitter orange, grapefruit, rhubarb, mineral water, and blossom, offset by the deep intensity of low and slow yamahai fermentation. Savory notes of fermented honey and almond paste linger, while a slinky, dense-yet-light mouthfeel and a long finish carry the palate.
Brewery: Miyoshino Shuzo
Prefecture: Nara, Yoshino forest
Rice: Local blend (varies based on condition, intuition, etc. A blend typically dominated by Gin-no-Sato, easy to grow in humid conditions and less susceptible to collapse.)
Polishing: 50%
Water: medium soft
Fermentation vessel: varies depending on atmospheric conditions, but neutral sugi kioke is typical.
Starter: Yamahai
Yeast: Ambient
Koji: so-so-so-haze (very robust, advanced koji growth)
Pressing: yabuta
ABV: 16%
(Note that this sake, like all of the Zev Rovine imports, is stored by the importer/distributor under cellar temps rather than refrigerated temps, regardless of being nama. This is an extension of the exporter Yoram's philosophy-- and in most cases the brewer as well-- which encourages and welcomes the changing face of aged nama, rather than trying to keep the sake in stasis. If the sake you receive is not showing to your taste, please store it and revisit at 6 months intervals. It is OK that it was previously opened.)
No one is doing things like Hashimoto-san. No one.
Not for 100+ years, has anyone so intuitively channeled the unique circumstances of their hyper-local environment and created such particular methodologies to work within them.
Hashimoto-san is deferential and respectful to the precise, modern methods of sake brewing that produce clean, delicate flavors. But he makes it clear that this cannot be done in his home region of Yoshino without neutralizing terroir: this is not the style of sake “that can only be made in Yoshino.” It’s too damp, too humid– the aroma of local sugi wood too powerful, and the ambient microorganisms too robust– to wrangle mother nature, to squeeze her into a textbook daiginjo box. Hashimoto-san needs to be fluid, adapting to the circumstances of the moment (hard rice in a hot year, availability of particular fermentation vats mid-season) to make a thousand decisions a minute, for sake that will last a lifetime.
The foundation of the Hanatomoe method is in intuition, tradition, climate and community, rather than technology. Hashimoto-san is a druid: a leader in the modern sake movement via pre-modern technique.
The sake that can only be made in Yoshino is the sake that Hashimoto-san brews. Hanatomoe can only be brewed in one place in the world, and is the strongest case for sake terroir that I have personally encountered.
62.16 YPR