Nakano BC Kishu Ryokucha Umeshu (720 ml)

Nakano BC traces its roots to a soy sauce shop founded in Kainan City, Wakayama Prefecture in 1932 — a fermentation lineage that underpins a technical culture unusual for a regional producer, including a patented reduced-oxidation plum-steeping process developed specifically for umeshu production. Wakayama grows over 60% of Japan's plums, and the Kii Peninsula's warm, Kuroshio Current-moderated climate produces fruit of concentrated sweetness and pronounced acidity. The addition of Kishu ryokucha (green tea) — a cultivar native to the same Wakayama terroir — introduces tannin structure and a grassy, umami-laden depth that most commercial umeshu entirely lack. Nakano BC's patented process is designed to suppress oxidation during maceration, preserving the fresh, high-toned character of both the ume fruit and the green tea's volatile aromatics rather than allowing them to collapse into a flat, jammy profile. The result is a category transgression: an umeshu with the structural tension of a lightly tannic beverage, where the tea's catechins act as a counterweight to residual sweetness. Drink chilled or over ice; no vintage applies to this NV expression.