ABOUT THIS BOTTLE

Hakutsuru Nishiki Junmai Daiginjo

One cannot talk about this junmai daiginjo without talking about Hakutsuru Nishiki. Hakutsuru Nishiki is Hakutsuru's proprietary breed of sake rice. The journey starts in 1990, when the company set out to look for sake rice that exceeds Yamada-Nishiki, known as the best sake rice. They decided that they would have to go back to one of the parent seed used to crossbreed to create the Yamada Nishiki, the Yamada Ho. Infamous for being hard to grow, the Yamada Ho strain was almost long gone at this time. With the cooperation of farmers across the country, Hakutsuru began by looking for the seed, and grew it in the original region where Yamada Ho initially grew. Four years later, they were finally able to grow enough to make sake, and in 1995 they produced junmai daiginjo Yamada Ho. With the Yamada Ho under their belt, they decided to try crossbreeding the two parent seeds of the Yamada Nishiki again, the Yamada Ho and the Watari Bune. The first year they came up with 800 different strains, the second year, they narrowed those strains to the 100 most promising strains, the next year, they narrowed it down further, until 8 years later, in 2003, they finally found the strain that was equal or better in quality to the Yamada Nishiki. Compared to the Yamada Nishiki, the Hakutsuru Nishiki strain has a larger core, shorter length (easier to grow), the same level of protein, and known to make sake with more depth—and this junmai daiginjo proves it. This is a dry, crisp sake with fruity aromas and floral notes.