"No added sugar." We see this phrase everywhere these days, but never in the world of plum wine. It's simply not possible because you need loads of sugar to offset the natural tartness of Japanese ume plums. Generally, there is whopping 1kg of sugar to 1.8L of white liqour in plum wine. That is, until Nanbu Bijin sauntered into the Plum Wine saloon with their guns ablazin'. It all started in the aughts when Nanbu Bijin started making an odd sake. Sake's golden ratio of rice use is 20% koji rice and 80% white rice, but Nanbu Bijin began a line of all-koji sakes. The longer it was laid to rest, the sweetness of the all-koji sakes heightened.

The CEO fo the company then began to see the possibility of a low calorie plum wine using this naturally sweet all-koji sake. While the path to a no-sugar plum wine was still quite bumpy, after many attempts, Nanbu Bijin came up with a new way to brew plum wine (that has been patented), and today, we have a plum wine that even the most ardent processed-sugar-hater could enjoy.