Sankan Shuzo Junmai Ginjo Omachi "Triple Crown"

A really pretty sake with elegant spice notes... the prettiest pink peppercorn, orange flower, pistachio and rosewater shortbread, violet candies, Earl Grey & salty grapefruit. I'm listing all these big perfumey aromatics, but this isn't a super-floral sake like CEL-24... it's quite a bit more subtle and nuanced, on par with Tenbi Tokubetsu Junmai. The palate is on the dry side, a touch of astringency on the finish keeping it clean and moreish. That familiar velvety texture and rich umami typical of Omachi rice comes out when it's at room temperature, but served chilled in a wine glass it reads as lean and tight, with a tension that reminds me of Moriki Shuzo (where the toji trained!) or Matsunotsukasa. The finish is longer than you'd expect for a dry sake, lingering with subtle depth and delicate perfume. Warms beautifully to ~125 as well.

Spring 2024, we visited Sankan Shuzo during a brief daytrip to Kojima, which is a port town at the end of a peninsula in Okayama, jutting out into the beautiful Seto Inland Sea. Kurashiki is famous for denim (before that: fabric mills, uniforms and cotton growing, as the high salt content in the soil is inhospitable to rice) but it also has fantastic seafood and a few excellent sake breweries. Sankan is a pretty classic tale of a family business on the brink revived with new energy from its next generation. But, maybe because he's around my same age and comes from an IT background, I find Masumi-san totally relatable and a joy to be around. Masumi-san is kind, funny, super outgoing, and open minded...and he's gone to great (even very silly) personal lengths to turn the tide on Sankan. When he first came home, he did everything solo and by hand, and in pursuing an export contract tried his damnedest to communicate in English before eventually, exhaustedly learning that his import contact speaks Japanese. A brewery of Sankan's size (100 koku) might be one of the smallest we carry here at Sunflower (Nishide being the other)... and has no business supplying an importer as well known as Kome Collective... but Masumi's determination, hustle, and guts got it done. Huge respect, and frankly, I can't wait to return and spend more time getting to know him.

All in all, Triple Crown is a very special and unique addition to our Omachi lineup and I anticipate drinking a lot of it! :)