Takara Shuzo, the maker of the sake brand "Shochikubai" that has been loved by many people for many years, announced a new product, "Nendo," in October 2023, which attracted a lot of attention. "Nendo" aims to create a truly delicious sake to drink with meals by making full use of accumulated traditional techniques. We will unravel the "philosophy" that goes into the brewing of this sake.

We want to make sake that expresses the flavor of rice. Our thoughts on "Nendo"

In October 2023, "Nendo" was released for the first time in a limited release of 10 bottles, attracting a lot of attention. Its official name is "Shochikubai Shirakabegura 'Nendo'". This "Shirakabegura" is the name of the brewery that was built in 400 in pursuit of what is high-quality, truly delicious sake. "Nendo" is a sake that Shochikubai made in the "Shirakabegura", which has produced a series of unique products, aiming to make a truly delicious sake.

"Nendo" will have its third limited release in the fall of 2024. We spoke to Takara Shuzo's Tsunemoto Shintaku, who has long been involved in the development of "Nendo" as a member of the company's technical department, about the background to its creation.

"What we focused on was a flavor that would be loved as a drink to accompany meals. Recently, there has been a lot of attention on sake made from less polished rice, in other words, sake made from rice that has been polished to a higher degree. Of course, these sakes are delicious, but we felt that what goes best with food is sake that makes use of the natural full-bodied flavor of the rice. In a sense, we went back to the origins of sake brewing, and created Rendo, a sake that symbolizes the flavor we aim for at Shochikubai.

Thinking that a new perspective was needed, they invited Kenichi Ohashi, who holds the title of "Master of Wine," said to be the world's most qualified and awarded person in the world for wine-related qualifications and titles, and who is one of only 420 people in the world to hold the title in Japan, as a consultant. As a specialist in wine, which is popular as a drink with meals around the world, Ohashi's wide-ranging advice based on his wealth of experience was a major hint in advancing the development of "Rendo."

From the rice fields of Nishiwaki City to the white-walled storehouses of Nada

Rice cultivation was considered essential to achieving the "full-bodied flavor inherent to rice." In their search for high-quality rice, they found Fujiwara Hisakazu, a full-time farmer in Nishiwaki City, Hyogo Prefecture. Working hand in hand with Takara Shuzo staff and Fujiwara, they sought quality by improving the rate of white-core rice and reducing crude protein, as well as reducing the use of pesticides and the amount of methane gas emitted from the fields during rice cultivation. They cultivated Yamada Nishiki rice for "Nendo" using high-quality, environmentally friendly, sustainable farming methods.

"Shinpaku manifestation rate"
"Shinpaku" refers to the kernel-like part in the center of the rice. It is said that the larger this "shinpaku" is, the better the rice is for sake brewing. Incidentally, the rate of shinpaku appearance in table rice is 10-90%, but there are some high-quality sake rice varieties with a rate of over XNUMX%.

"Reduction of methane gas emissions"
Methane gas has a greenhouse effect 25 times that of COXNUMX, so efforts are being made to curb its emissions from the perspective of the SDGs.

Once Fujiwara-san has finished harvesting the Yamada-nishiki grapes, the sake brewing process moves to the Shirakabe Brewery.

"At Shirakabe Brewery, we have technicians who are qualified as chief brewers. We value the insight of these people, but we also manage data and brew sake with an emphasis on the direction indicated by the numbers. Rather than 'it's delicious, even though we don't really understand it,' we thought it was important to visualize the principles and origins of the flavor with data in order to make sake that represents the flavor that Shochikubai is aiming for."

Supported by the enthusiasm and efforts of many people, the development of "Nendo" has progressed steadily, one step at a time. From the progress of this project, I would like to mainly introduce Fujiwara's rice farming in Nishiwaki City and the challenges he faced at the Shirakabegura.

Working with contracted farmers in Nishiwaki City to produce high-quality, sustainable rice

Nishiwaki City is located almost in the center of Hyogo Prefecture. Known as the birthplace of "Banshu-ori" textiles, which has been around for over 200 years, Nishiwaki City is also blessed with abundant water resources such as the Kakogawa River and Sugihara River that flow nearby, and is also known as a rice-producing region.

Fujiwara Hisakazu, a rice farmer in Nishiwaki City for three generations, has signed a contract with Takara Shuzo and is working daily to cultivate high-quality Yamada Nishiki. The area planted with Yamada Nishiki for "Nendo" is about 2.5 hectares, which is about XNUMX times the size of Koshien Stadium.

Yamada Nishiki is harvested around early October. Fujiwara spoke as he surveyed the fields covered with lush, green ears of rice in early September.

"Yamada Nishiki is said to grow best in Special A-area fields, but in fact my field is not in a Special A-area field. However, when Takara Shuzo looked into it, they found that there were some aspects that were better than in Special A-area fields, and that it might produce some interesting rice, so we began trial cultivation in 2020 and began full-scale cultivation in 2022."

"We are promoting the use of organic fertilizer in cultivation. However, compared to chemical fertilizer, organic fertilizer works less well on rice and more slowly. This makes it very difficult to decide when to spread it and the amount to use. If we get the control wrong, the plants will grow taller and become more prone to falling over, or an excessive amount of microorganisms will grow, preventing the rice from getting enough nutrients. After much trial and error, we finally got the hang of the timing and amount to use. It takes time, but using organic fertilizer has led to improved quality."

"In our continued pursuit of the flavor we are aiming for, improving the quality of the rice comes first. However, we believe that we cannot do that alone. In order to prevent global warming, we are also working on a major issue: suppressing the generation of methane gas. In summer, we have to drain the water from the fields, a process known as 'mid-season drying.' By extending this period from the usual one week to around two weeks, we allow oxygen into the soil and suppress the generation of methane gas. We also use the activity of Bacillus bacteria to promote the decomposition of straw that is plowed into the soil during the winter, which helps to reduce the generation of methane gas the following year."

These various efforts proved successful, and in some test areas they succeeded in reducing methane gas production by more than 90% compared to previous levels.

Fujiwara also tried "Rendo," which was first released last year.

"At first it has a refreshing taste, but then it turns into a rich flavor, with an indescribable full-bodied taste that goes down smoothly. And more than anything, I was thrilled to see that the rice I had carefully grown had turned out like this."

The harvest is just around the corner. Sake made from rice harvested in 2024 will be available in the fall of 2025.

Improvements to the brewing process and the traditional "kimoto" method of sake brewing. New and old methods of sake brewing come together at the Shirakabe Brewery

The Yamada Nishiki rice that Fujiwara carefully cultivates is brewed at the Shirakabe Brewery. According to Shintaku, who has been involved in the brewing process, even though they are both brewed alcoholic beverages, wine is as close to agricultural products as possible, while sake is closer to industrial products. To learn more...

"Simply put, wine is an alcoholic drink made by quickly putting harvested grapes into tanks and fermenting them. Japanese sake begins with transporting harvested rice to the brewery and polishing it, and there are many other steps involved. Of course, wine also goes through various processes, but rather than disclosing those processes, it is the quality of the grapes that year that has a big influence on the taste, and producers will talk a lot about that. With Japanese sake, not only is the quality of the rice important, but the brewing process that takes place through people in the brewery also has a big impact on the taste. In that sense, it is an agricultural product and an industrial product."

The numerous steps involved in sake brewing were broken down into as many steps as possible, resulting in 284 steps. "Rendo" is the sake that was created by rechecking each and every step and making improvements every year.

"In terms of the sake brewing process, we not only adopted the traditional 'kimoto brewing' method to bring out the flavor of the rice, but also tried various ratios at the rice polishing stage, and concluded that 2024% was optimal for the lot to be released in 2023 (rice harvested in 51). After squeezing using the 'Fukuro-tsuri' method, we bottle the sake as is, unfiltered, and then pasteurize it once, store it at a low temperature of minus 5 degrees, and deliver it refrigerated when the optimal balance is reached."

"The word 'terroir' is often used in the case of wine. If we were to use the word 'terroir' in the case of sake, we could call it something like the 'feelings' and 'desires' that are put into the rice used to achieve the quality and flavor we are aiming for, as well as the measures to reduce methane gas and the use of less pesticides that are carried out while understanding the characteristics of the land at Fujiwara's farm in Nishiwaki City."

"Kimoto brewing"

This is a traditional method of naturally producing the lactic acid necessary for sake brewing and cultivating the "shubo" that is the base of sake. Because natural lactic acid is used, it takes more than twice as much time and effort as "sokujo" (fast brewing), which uses refined lactic acid, and the environment in the sake brewery must be kept at a high level.

"Bag hanging"

Fukurozuri is a method of squeezing sake, in which the fermented mash is placed in a sake bag and hung, and only the drops that drip naturally are collected. This method is also known as fukurotori or shizukushibori, and although it produces a smaller amount than the method of squeezing with pressure using a machine, it produces a refined taste without any unpleasant flavors.

Making the most of the rice's flavor, we aim to create sake that pairs well with food

Regarding the tasting comment for "Nendo", Kenichi Ohashi provided the following comment:

"While retaining its unified style of 'modest and elegant aromatic character, dense and refined texture, and soft fullness in the mid-palate,' compared to last year's 2022 vintage US lot, it has a more focused sweetness, while still offering a slimmer body."

Since its limited release in the fall of 2023, Zendo has been highly praised as a drink to enjoy with meals by restaurant owners and sommeliers across Japan.

How does the brewer, Shintaku, perceive the taste of "Nendo"?

"I don't want to create a drink that has any one outstanding feature. This is an abstract expression, but I'm aiming for a drink that is like a condensed mass, or in other words, a drink with the aesthetic of subtraction. However, I designed it so that it doesn't become too simple, but rather that you can feel that it is 'delicious' in absolute terms. To be more specific, you may feel that the acidity is quite high, but it is not the acidity that stands out; rather, the acidity comes from increasing the overall volume so that it can be enjoyed as an accompaniment to food."

The optimal temperature is 10 to 12 degrees Celsius. A wine glass with a slightly tapered tip is recommended.

What is the meaning behind the name "Rendo"?

Finally, we asked about the name "Nendo."

"The soil that covers the earth, and the rice that grows from that soil. This name expresses our gratitude for all of these blessings from nature and the earth, and represents our rice and sake production that places no burden on the environment. In fact, 'Nendo' also has another meaning. 'Nendo' means 'Never End.' It is also a declaration of our determination to never stop challenging ourselves to carve out a beautiful future for sake, and to continue forever."

Shochikubai is a national brand. Shochikubai is pouring everything into this limited edition of 500 bottles. The third release of the "Rendo" is scheduled for October 2024. We can't take our eyes off the releases from 10 onwards, which will likely show new advances.

◆ Shochikubai Shirakabegura "Nendo" 720ml

Orders begin on Wednesday, October 2024, 10

Limited to 450 bottles for commercial and department store use, limited to 50 bottles for Takara Shuzo online shop

For more information, please visit the "Nendo" special website.  

・Ingredients: Rice (domestic), rice malt (domestic rice)

・Alcohol content: 16-17%

・Best before date: Refrigerated for 6 months

・Suggested retail price: 10,000 yen (excluding tax)