Production area: Gunma Prefecture, Japan
Brewery name: Shimaoka Brewery
Rice polishing steps: 50%
Raw rice: Ruoshui
Japanese alcohol content: +3
Acidity: 1.7
Capacity: 720ml
Production Date: April 2025
🌟OSA純米(Rich & Umami) Champion
🏅Oriental Sake Awards 2024 - Gold
Shimaoka Shuzo also makes junmai sake using the mountain waste method that it is good at. The super specially selected "Wakasui" is made from 50% polished rice. It has a rich flavor similar to that of rice. It has a rich and complex taste in the mouth, and makes the warm drink more sweet and moist. What's special is that during the production process, the ratio of koji rice and dried rice is half and half, which is different from the common "eight-two rule". The wine even won the Champion in the Rich & Umami category of the Asian Sake Awards (OSA)! !
[Wine brewed with good rice - "Ruoshui"]
Gunma Prefecture has mostly soft water. The local sake rice "Wakamizu" was cultivated in 1972. It was officially rated as a good rice for sake brewing in 1991 and is now widely used in Gunma Prefecture. It can brew wine with gorgeous aroma and clear and smooth taste.
【Gunma Spring | Gunma Prefecture Shimaoka Shuzo】
Shimaoka Shuzo was founded in 1863 (Bunkyu 3rd year). For more than 100 years, Shimaoka Shuzo has been taking food-matching considerations into account, creating a variety of flavored wines to match various cuisines. The annual output is 500 koku (it is a small sake brewery) and it produces "local sake". That is to say, wine is usually only interpreted as wine produced locally and with a small output.
Mr. Toshinobu Shimaoka, the 6th generation successor of sake brewing, insists on using the "mountain waste" method to make sake. Different from the process of brewing sake, nowadays most of them use the "quick brewing" method, which means adding artificially cultivated natural lactic acid bacteria. The ancient method of "Shan Shi" is to stir and mash a mixture of steamed rice and water. In the process, natural lactobacilli are mixed in and utilized. But there is also a method of "mountain waste" that does not involve any movement, and does not use the ancient methods of "quick brewing" and "mountain removal". Therefore, it is actually means "abolition of mountain unloading".
Mr. Toshinobu Shimaoka, for sake to reach a mature and clean state, it is necessary to calm down. In a newspaper interview, he once said: "I don't want to make a sake that is made from sanchi, but a sake that is mature, so I want to let the sake rest. The method of sanpai is exactly what I want. Waste is not the purpose, but It’s a means.” Mr. Shimaoka Gengjia emphasized that what he brews is “a sake that makes people want to drink it” and that they will not get tired of drinking it every day.
$245/bottle
🚚 Free delivery in Hong Kong for orders of 6+ bottles of wine, 3+ bottles of sake/spirits, or orders over $1,200;
Otherwise, $80 delivery fee per order (except remote areas) or free showroom pick-up during office hours.
