Hanatomoe Mizumoto Junmai MNG "Natural Selection" Fall 2024
- In stock, ready to ship
[tasting notes to be added]
The name "Mizumoto" refers to the pre-modern brewing method (invented ~1000 years ago by Buddhist brewing monks) which begins with a naturally sour water from raw rice, water, and lactic acid bacteria in the air. This method is particularly well suited to the damp, humid conditions in Nara, where the method originated.
(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 to age sake that has been previously opened.)
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: 70% (+/-)
Water: medium soft
Fermentation vessel: Yoshinosugi kioke
Starter: Mizumoto
Yeast: Ambient (by Hashimoto-san's description, he cultivates each batch for very strong, "bomb-proof" yeast)
Koji: so-so-so-haze (very robust, advanced koji growth)
Pressing: Yabuta
ABV: 17%
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.
Hashimoto-san's message:
"Nothing remains unchanged in the life of the world.
Mountains, rivers, and people are rooted in the land, changing little by little.
The rice grown on the land also changes,
The sake brewed from that rice also changes from year to year and from day to day.
The workings of the climate are in the midst of change,
Hanatomoe is sake that is brewed in harmony with this change.
But some things do not change.
By brewing sake in response to the "naturalness" of Yoshino's climate, Hanatomoe is able to unify a wide variety of flavors,
A sense of unity is naturally created among the many different flavors.
This sense of unity gives birth to a character and identity that never changes, year over year, and is recognizable as being from this specific place.
Every visitor who looks at the beauty of the mountains in Yoshino feels the beauty in their heart, but every individual view is different and unique. It is always changing, but it is always sending the same message.
We hope you enjoy Hanatomoe in the same way every time, even as you feel it change over time."
62.16 YPR