Huchu Homare Brewery
Watari Bune "The 55"
From the sake bottle
This junmai ginjo is nutty, woody and earthy, with deep notes of pineapple and honeydew. It is best served chilled and complements pate, duck grilled meats and monkfish liver, the delicacy of the area. Its seimaibuai, or rice polishing level, is 55% which explains its name. Watari Bune is an "heirloom" rice strain, meaning it has never been intercrossed with another rice varietal. It is also one of the parent strains to Yamada Nishiki, the most celebrated sake rice. Watari Bune has gone out of use for fifty years until this brewery revived it in 1989 with 14 grams of seeds. By 1996, they won a gold medal at Japan's National Sake Competition, and another in 1998.
Sake Review
Our Tasting Notes
Decadent, seductive, and sweet. A junmai ginjo brewed from a rice that came back from extinction.
What hit me first was...
The exclamation "wow!" because that first sip is sooooo rich. This is a bottle you're immediately thankful you purchased.
The sweetness here is...
Not simple. Fruit sweet on entry, then aged and brandy-plum deep underneath. The kind of sweet that keeps revealing itself.
What surprised me most was...
The slight dance on the tongue, almost like a bit of effervescence. Or maybe that was just flirtation.
By the end of the glass I felt...
Like every time I go back to this sake I'll find something new. Complex, decadent, and it easily won my heart.
Open this when...
You're ready to revel. The high-confidence, I-earned-this, basking-in-glory kind.
If you liked this, try...
Koshi No Kanbai Muku Pure Realm
Ishimoto Sake Brewery
Sweet, forward, and unexpectedly rich. A special occasion sake.
