Vine Connections | Sake | All About Sake Understanding Sake: All About Grades What's in it Key Terms How's it made Where's it from Overview of Types Reviews

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VINE CONNECTIONS PROUDLY BRINGS YOU JAPAN'S FINEST PREMIUM GINJO SAKE HAND-CRAFTED BY SMALL, ANCIENT, FAMILY- RUN JAPANESE BREWERS (read more here!)

Sake, often called the "Drink of the Gods" by the Japanese, is a beverage created from rice, water, koji, and yeast, usually with an alcohol content of 15%-16%, just slightly higher than that of an average red wine. Sake is brewed like a beer (not distilled), but it is served and enjoyed like a fine white wine. Premium sake is usually served lightly chilled, while lower grades of Sake are usually served hot. The sake that Vine Connections imports is more specifically referred to as "ginjo" sake--chilled, ultra-premium, pure rice Sake —not the boiled, cheap stuff that has (unfortunately) been served to Americans in small, ceramic carafes at sushi bars for decades.

When we tasted these Sake for the first time, we were floored. These were glasses full of complex, aromatic, thought-provoking, pleasure-inducing liquids. They are created from premium sake rice, pure water, yeast & koji mold without using distilled alcohol or other additives, and using a painstaking and laborious production process. These products will change the way people think about Sake in general.

We have incredible respect and admiration for the results of these brewers' efforts. While every one of our 12 brewers has been crafting sake for over 90 years (and one for 865 years!), this category of pure, premium, chilled ginjo sake that we know today has only been produced in Japan for the last 35 years. In terms of grade or quality, this category represents approximately the top 12% of all Sake produced in Japan.

They are rare (80% of brewers' production is consumed locally), and they are more expensive than sake produced in the U.S. or Japanese sake producted by the mega-breweries. But they are clearly superior.

 

Sake Labels - Where the Consumer Meets the Product

Vine Connections has worked closely with its sake brewers to develop an English language back label that is the first of its kind for sake in the US (shown below). We have also managed to get English names and information on the front labels of all of our sake. The back label gives detail and structure to the key elements that the trade and consumer should be focusing on in their continuing education on sake. These include:

Name: Brand name is in Japanese, the proprietary name for each sake is in easily- remembered English

Grade: Junmai, Tokubetsu Junmai, Junmai Ginjo, Junmai Daiginjo

Profile: Basic taste profile of the Sake

Prefecture: Where in Japan it is made

Rice: What type of Sake rice was used to make it

"Tidbit": A brief, unique fact about the Sake or the brewery that made it

Bottle Quality Meter: a graphic showing the customer how high the quality grade is vs. all other Sake produced

Serve Slightly Chilled: Heat will damage premium Sake. This is a reminder.

 

 

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