Junmai Ginjo (720 ml)

Founded in 1892, Sakunohana Shuzo operates from Saku City on the Saku-daira plateau — one of thirteen century-old breweries concentrated in a single inland basin at roughly 700 m elevation, flanked by Mt. Asama to the north and the Yatsugatake range to the south. That altitude compresses the growing season and delivers the cool fermentation temperatures that ginjo-zukuri demands.

The rice is Hitogokochi, a Nagano-bred variety cultivated in paddies along the Chikuma River corridor, polished to approximately 59% seimaibuai — removing 41% of the grain to strip lipids and proteins that would otherwise cloud the aromatic profile. Fermentation follows the ginjo-zukuri method: slow, low-temperature, allowing the koji and yeast to build delicate fruity esters without thermal shortcuts. Toji Tatsuyuki Inoue oversees the process.

The expression is bottled muroka — skipping activated-carbon filtration — which preserves the fuller, unmediated rice character that carbon treatment would strip. No distilled alcohol is added, keeping it squarely in the Junmai designation. The result is a dry, medium-bodied sake with lively ginjo aromatics and a clean, plateau-cool finish.

What sets Sakunohana apart is its participation in the annual SAKU 13 collaborative bottling — all thirteen Saku breweries blending into a single release — a regional solidarity project with no direct parallel in Japanese sake.