The brewery growing its own rice fields

The Takahashi Shuzo brewery was founded in 1894 next to what is now Usuda Station, but was forced to cease operations in 1943, during World War II. Eventually in 1955 it was revived, as Sakunohana Sake Brewery. The Takahashi family had worked as farmers for generations, and one of the crops they grew was rice. So, when the brewery was revived they decided to not only make sake but also grow its main ingredient in their own rice fields. They started brewing sake almost as a game. Almost no rice varieties developed for sake brewing were grown in the Saku area at that time, with most farmers in the major rice production areas of Omachi, Azumino and Ina growing the table rice Koshihikari. And even if you wanted to grow sake rice, it was almost impossible to get seeds of the Takane Nishiki variety, which had been developed in Nagano Prefecture prior to WWII. Brewing institutions could supply more common varieties such as Yamada Nishiki and Gohyakumangoku, so the Takahashi family started with those. However, not every sake rice variety was suitable for the area. Yamada Nishiki matures late in the season, too late for Nagano's cold climate. It was also expensive, so there were issues around cost which made it very difficult for the farmers. The Takahashi family decided to produce seeds from some of the rice in their own fields, but that was also not as easy as it sounds.

Rice can start to deviate from the characteristics of the original variety and fail to grow properly within about 3 years unless grown in a completely separate area. So if the rice to supply seeds is grown in the same fields as rice to be used for sake, it needs to be very carefully monitored. These difficulties made it impossible for the family to harvest sake rice, so for a time they made “Koshihikari sake” with the table rice they grew themselves. That sake was also mostly futsushu, or table sake, so no-one was really interested in the rice variety or even if it was sake rice or table rice. That was the situation Hisatomo Takahashi, current fifth generation owner, came home to when he returned to take over the brewery. Sales through local routes were weak, and the brewery faced a long period where it just could not sell enough. Hisatomo faced up to the difficult truth that the brewery was struggling, and decided to change to producing premium junmai sake. He was convinced there was no way they could keep going unless they produced good sake. It was also around this time that more farmers in the area gave up farming and some handed their rice fields over to the Takahashi family, eventually making them responsible for nearly 3 hectares of land. And for the brewery employees, making sake from the rice they grew motivates them to make the best sake they can. There's nothing like growing the rice yourself to gain a keen understanding of the saying that “sake brewing begins with growing the rice”.

The value of varieties

Nagano Prefecture has developed many varieties of sake rice, including Takane Nishiki, Kinmon Nishiki, Shirakaba Nishiki, Miyama Nishiki, Hitogokochi and Sankei Nishiki. The oldest of those is Takane Nishiki, developed at the Nagano Prefecture Agricultural Experiment Station in 1939 in a quest to develop a rice suited to growing at high altitude in cold regions. Takane Nishiki was later crossed with Yamada Nishiki to produce Kinmon Nishiki. Miyama Nishiki is an unusual variety produced by irradiating Yamada Nishiki with gamma rays to induce mutation. It currently ranks third in production volume behind Yamada Nishiki and Gohyakumangoku. The prefecture did not stop there, continuing to breed high-quality rice varieties including Hitogokochi and Sankei Nishiki. The Sankei Nishiki variety started development in 2003. It was given the local designation “Shinko Sake #545” in 2011, then named “Sankei Nishiki” after a popular vote in 2017. It was developed using a revolutionary new method completely unlike previous means of improving rice varieties.

Rice variety breeding was previously based on easily visible factors such as the size of the rice grain or the rate at which the desired white starch core forms, but in this case the main factor was one essential to sake brewing – growing koji. Researchers developed a new method for evaluating sake rice based on its suitability for making koji, experimenting with growing the mold under different conditions. The koji was analyzed and the data used to select the optimal variety for koji. The research results were impressive enough to see Sankei Nishiki selected as one of the “New Agricultural Technologies and Varieties of 2021” by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. When Sakunohana Sake Brewery learned about the new variety, they decided to try growing it themselves without giving the matter much thought. But they found that unlike Miyama Nishiki, which tends to produce delicate, elegant sake, Sankei Nishiki created a sake with much more body. So, they decided to carry on growing Sankei Nishiki and making sake from it.

Sakunohana Brewery-Grown Rice Junmai Daiginjo

The fields Sankei Nishiki is grown in are maintained in neat squares that fan out to form an elegant lattice. It’s a very different sight to the irregular patchwork of fields Hisatomo remembers from his childhood. Many fields in the area are small, around 1,000 square meters. This makes them hard to work as farmers are constantly moving carefully from one to the next. One 3,000 square meter field yields about 25 or 26 bales of Sankei Nishiki, which is suited to intensive polishing and therefore used to make daiginjo class sake. Sakunohana Brewery-Grown Rice Junmai Daiginjo is highly aromatic with notes of lily, with pineapple-like fruitiness and mellow mouthfeel. With a full body provided by clearly defined acidity and pungent alcohol, it has satisfying flavors leading to a clean finish with firm acidity.

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