Sake Spotlight!

Joto Eiko Fuji Junmai Sake

$15.99 for the 300ml bottle
Junmai Sake

Joto (meaning “Highest Level”) is a sake importer. What they do is take Japanese artisanal sakes and wrap them in American friendly branding (like English language labels). In this way, they intend to make quality sake available and accessible without “dumbing it down.” This Junmai Sake is made by the famed Eiko Fuji Brewery in Yamagata prefecture.

Yamagata prefecture sits on the northwestern side of Honshu, Japan’s big island, and is all about sake. Snowy winters and mountains help produce high quality water sources, so important in sake making. Their flat valleys are filled with rice farms. In fact, there are two rice varietals (Dewa San San and Dewa No Sato) that can only be grown in Yamagata. The region even has its own yeast strain (“Yamagata KA” or “Yamagata Kobo”), known for producing green apple aromas in the sakes it makes.

Eiko Fuji Sake Brewery in the city of Tsuruoka was founded in 1778 and is now being managed by Ariyoshi Kato, the 13th generation of Katos to manage it. Kato-san originally had a career in Tokyo finance, which he left to take over the brewery from his father. Supposedly, even though he could just sit back and run the numbers, he works in brewery with the brewing team, led by brewmaster Kodai Kato (no relation).

Eiko Fuji’s Junmai Sake for Joto manages to be both clean and complex. Made from Dewa No Sato rice and the Yamagata Kobo yeast, it has a light, fruity core like a bright, breezy, summer top, and then, flowing out to the sides of the palate like a loose, peasant skirt are more earthy notes. It’s this second quality that allows this sake to stand next to heavier dishes like savory ramen or grilled pork. Come try what is merely the foothills of the sake mountain that is Yamagata sake.