Developing a proper appreciation of this very subtle beverage challenges many non-Japanese imbibers, who find they must learn a new set of rules. As connoisseurs, we must educate ourselves to a new vocabulary of processes and ingredients. As buyers or collectors, we must adjust our strategies to suit a spirit that gains no added value from being cellared.

Today, sake is enjoying unprecedented interest outside of Japan. But this was not always so. Because of its alcohol content, higher than wine or beer and typically between 15 percent and 20 percent, sake has always had a somewhat nefarious appeal to thirsty students on a budget. Compound this with the fact that it was often served warm and robbed of its flavors, and sake acquired a well-deserved reputation as swill. Heat is just a way to disguise the taste of low-grade sake, which was all that most Japanese restaurants in the United States were able to acquire at one time. Imagine how a warm bottle of good Burgundy would taste. Today, however, growing interest in the spirit has made first-rate sake widely available, and it is now perfectly acceptable to drink it cold, so that its complex flavors can fully emerge.

Indeed, according to Japan’s Ministry of Finance, sake export volume to the United States from Japan increased 65 percent between 1994 and 2002, and its export dollar value increased 177 percent over the same period.

White Lotus is the only restaurant in Los Angeles that serves Awamori sake, a rare, smooth, distilled sake from Okinawa.

With the increasing pervasiveness of exclusive Japanese restaurants in the United States, appreciation for and availability of the very best sake are on the rise. Chef Nobu Matsuhisa’s restaurants, Nobu in Manhattan and Matsuhisa in Los Angeles, set the trend. Others have followed, including White Lotus in Los Angeles, Ozumo in San Francisco, Bizen in Great Barrington, Mass., Uni in Boston, Morimoto in Philadelphia, and Matsuri and Megu, both in Manhattan. But sake is also making more frequent appearances on the menus of high-end French restaurants, like Chanterelle, one of a handful of Manhattan dining establishments designated with the top rating of four stars by the New York Times. 

We pair sake with our tasting menus,”says Roger Dagorn, a sommelier at Chanterelle.  “Depending on the dish, I’ll recommend sake that is mellow, aromatic, floral, spicy or herbaceous.  Certain houses have fine reputations; for example, there are Otokoyama, Tsukasabotan, Narutotai and Wakatake Onikuroshi. Once a year, usually in May, our chef, David Waltuck, organizes an entire dinner pairing sake with each course. We’ve always filled every table.”

Tipple of Technique
Popular in Japan since the third century, when wet cultivation of rice first began, sake production requires a complex, lengthy, labor-intensive process of polishing, washing, soaking and steaming rice, adding koji (a type of mold), yeast and water, and then allowing the brew to ferment before being filtered and bottled. The end result is typically as clear and clean tasting as spring water. 

“Wine is an alcohol of stuffs, while sake is an alcohol of technique,” says Akihiko Sugawara, president of the Otokoyama sake brewery in the Miyagi prefecture. “Wine is an alcohol of agriculture, and sake is an alcohol of industry.” Unlike wine, which depends heavily upon terroir (roughly defined as the ways in which soil or place influence the identity of a wine), sake relies upon methodology.

There are about 1,600 kura, or breweries, producing sake in 46 out of Japan’s 47 prefectures. No individual region compares to Burgundy, Bordeaux, Piedmont or Napa—a sake place of origin is important, but no region sets a standard.

Likewise, the type of rice used is critical, but it does not define sake the way grapes do wine. “Yamada nishiki is recognized as the overall best rice used to make sake,” says John Gaunter, author of The Sake Companion, (2000, Running Press) and The Sake Handbook, (2002, Tuttle). Ohio-born, but a resident of Japan for more than 15 years, Gaunter, who was trained as an electrical engineer, has taken the moniker, “the Sake Guy.” He is as knowledgeable as he is passionate about the subject.

There are about 60 different types of officially designated sake rice, with an occasional new one added to this list,” Gaunter says. “New varieties are sometimes created by crossbreeding.”

The size of the rice matters, too. Lower-end premium sake uses rice that has only been polished down to about 70 percent of its original size, rather than 50 percent to 60 percent, like higher-end sake; this makes the production less labor-intensive and therefore cheaper. Smaller rice results in fewer impurities.

Water for the brewing process also is important. The water in the Nada region of the city of Kobe in Hyogo Prefecture is, according to Gaunter, “so good it has been nicknamed Miya-mizu, or shrine water.” But as with rice, water does not define first-rate sake. The water simply has to be pure. Excellent sake can be found from many regions of Japan, including the prefectures of Kyoto, Niigata, Akita, Hiroshima and Fukushima.

Toward the end of World War II, when shortages were rampant, small amounts of distilled alcohol were added at the end of the brewing process to increase yield. Today, some brewers continue this practice.

CognoSake
Developing a palate and learning the sake classification system will help a buyer make informed choices. “Niigata sake is clean and refined,” Gaunter states in The Sake Handbook, “and perhaps too commonly is used by some people as a yardstick for all sake.” In fact, Manotsuru Gold Medal Daiginjo, a sake produced by the Obata brewery in Niigata, won the top gold medal award three straight years in Japan’s government-sponsored national sake competition, and its Manotsuru Daiginjo is served to first-class passengers on Air France between Tokyo and Paris.

The highest-end sake is referred to as “junmai daiginjo-shu” (no alcohol added) and “daiginjo-shu” (alcohol added). They are subclasses of “junmai ginjo-shu” (no alcohol added) and “ginjo-shu” (alcohol added). Ginjo sake uses rice polished down to 60 percent, while the daiginjo rice is polished down to 50 percent. All four types represent only 6 percent of total sake production. The lowest end premium sake is known as “junmai-shu” (no alcohol added) and “honjozo-shu” (alcohol added).

Premium sake only accounts for about 20 percent of all sake produced,” notes Gaunter. Eighty percent of all other sake is called “futsuu-shu,” in effect, the table wine of the sake world. Sake can also be found aged, unpasteurized or unfiltered. Aging sake produces a darker, earthier brew, an acquired taste.

Sake classifications can be compared to wine ranking systems, such as those for grand cru Burgundy or first-growth Bordeaux. Top-ranked sake and wine are pricier and tend to be more valued by connoisseurs, but they do not necessarily represent the best value. And as is true with wine, preference for a lower-ranked premium sake ought to be a matter of taste. Consider the wine industry in California, which operates under no formal ranking system established by the government or winemakers: One may prefer Littorai to Peter Michael chardonnay without violating any cultural precept.

Until very recently it has been almost impossible to taste a range of sake in the United States. Now, however, at restaurants such as Uni, Ozumo and White Lotus, you can enjoy many different sakes by the glass and, over time, develop a palate.

“We have flights of sake,” explains Edon Kagasoff, a bartender at White Lotus. “I’ll typically offer three of four different kinds in one-ounce samples designed to show guests varying tastes and textures of junmai-shu, ginjo-shu, and daiginjo-shu sake.”

At Uni, Chef Ken Oringer’s latest project, 13 types of sake, including top brands such as Ken Daiginjo and Moriko Daiginjo, are available for guests. “We push it,” says Oringer. “We can talk them into trying the sake, and once they do they’re hooked. They had no idea it could be this complex. It’s not gut wrenching or high in alcohol.”

The Rash Can Relish
Due to a late 19th-century levy that taxed sake at its time of production rather than at its time of sale, most sake is meant to be drunk within six months of production. Brewers lost money when they aged the product rather than getting it to consumers as quickly as possible. While the law has changed, the tradition of producing for immediate consumption took root and remains to this day. “It’s almost a mantra,” says Gaunter. “If you want to taste sake the way the brewer made it, drink it within six months.”

Buying or investing in most sake differs from collecting wine because of the extremely limited potential of increasing its value through cellaring. But, as with wine, discovering small or artisanal producers is deeply satisfying. Find the right sake for your taste, and you will enjoy the quintessentially taste experience known as “umami,” a Japanese word that, roughly translated, describes a taste that goes straight to the depths of your soul. 

Sake Resources
For those who wish to buy sake or learn more about it, the following resources are first rate.

K+L Wines
800.247.5987
www.klwines.com 

Beekman Wines
201.445.0712
www.beekmanwine.com

Vine Connections
415.332.8466
www.vineconnections.com

For everything you will ever
need to know about sake:
+81 467.23.6895
www.sake-world.com

Photography by Viktor Budnik/Sake Courtesy of Vine Connections