This Kijoshu sake pairs beautifully with chocolates, especially dark chocolate mousses. It also complements cheese, foie gras, and steaks, and can be enjoyed poured over vanilla ice cream. As a versatile aperitif or digestif, it is best served chilled, with soda, or on the rocks.
An elegant and luxurious high-quality sake with a sweet, rich, and velvety flavour. Similar to Sauternes, it has a sherry- or port-like nose with honey, nutty, musky, and mushroom aromas. Brewed using Kijoshu Junmai sake instead of water, it achieves a refined sweetness.
Rice polishing ratio: 70%
Alcohol: 16%
Profile: Very sweet
SMV: -64
Acidity: 5.6
Served: Chilled
Kozaemon Nakashima Brewery (GIFU)
“Good water, good rice, good people equals excellent sake.”
In the middle of Japan, in a mountainous area of the prefecture of Gifu, near the town of Mizunami, we find a small brewery, producing sake with great passion in the traditional way since 1702. It is said in Japanese mythology that Mizunami (which means rice ears waving in the wind) was at one time at the bottom of the sea. That is why they believe the water that comes from the soil in this area is soft and fertile, perfect to be combined with the local rice to produce outstanding sake. In addition, the local climate – very hot in the summer, very cold in the winter, with lots of snowfalls – favours the production of exceptional sake.
Small sake breweries are called “Jizake” or micro-breweries and Kozaemon is certainly one of the best-known to produce high-quality, specialized sake such as the Double Kijoshu, an elegant and luxurious high-quality sake with a sweet, rich, velvety flavour, originally produced exclusively for the Imperial Family. With the help of the high-quality rice and water and the brewer’s obvious passion for a challenge to make special sake, this brewery’s sake is not only highly regarded domestically but also internationally. It is sold in all the best restaurants in the world and exported to 30 countries, including China, USA, Australia, UK, France, Germany and Sweden.
In the broadest sense, Gifu has two main sake styles: dry, non-Ginjo sake produced in the northern Hida district (influenced by its proximity to Niigata’s Echo Toji); and a sturdy, food-friendly yet sweeter style produced in the southern Mino district. Kozaemon or Nakashima sake is made by a small brewery in mountainous Gifu prefecture, the middle of Japan. The history of this brewery goes back over 300 years. High quality rice and water, and a passion for challenge make this sake quite special. Enjoy the rich sophisticated taste of it, which is totally incomparable! Mizunami, the town is which we find Nakashima brewery, in ancient times was at the bottom of the sea, according to legend. Mizunami means rice waving in the wind. The climate of Mizunami is very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter, with lots of snowfalls. This is what gives this sake its very special taste.
