Yucho Shuzo
Est. 1719, Nara, Japan
Yucho Shuzo produce Kaze No Mori - fresh, lively sake enjoyed by the local people of Nara as well as the underground sake scene of Tokyo and Osaka. Yucho Shuzo focus on No. 7 yeast to brew Muroka - ie. sake which has not undergone charcoal filtration.
Location
Located on the southern tip of the Nara basin, in Gose village. Nara is the birthplace of Japanese sake. Yucho Shuzo have been brewing sake for the last 300 years and would like to continue the tradition of sake brewing, as well as develop new processes for making sake as a pioneer in Nara.
Harnessing the characteristics of clear groundwater and rice unique to the Kongo-Katsuragi mountain range.
Kaze No Mori translates as "Forest of the Wind" and nearby the brewery there is a shrine in the forest where the wind becomes more intense, the closer you get. It is very much alive, like Kaze No Mori sake.
Bodaimoto
Nara sake of ancient times reached its height during the Sengoku period (period of Warring States). With the birth of the Bodaimoto technique originating at Shoryaku-ji Temple on Mt Bodai in Nara, it became possible to safely produce a yeast mash. Bodaimoto is the original process of creating a lactic acid starter from scratch.
The brewing techniques used at temples in Nara provide the foundations of sake production today. It is recorded that Oda Nobunaga, one of the most powerful warlords who united feudal Japan, commended this technique.
In the following years brewing techniques diversified across Japan. Yamahai-moto and Sokujo-moto developed while slowly the traditional technique of bodaimoto was forgotton. However in 1999 a volunteer from a brewery in Nara helped revive the technique at Shoryaku-ji temple, the birthplace of sake.
Yucho Shuzo's "Takacho Junmai Bodaimoto" sake hopes to promote the Bodaimoto tradition and technique of Nara sake.
The present
Yucho Shuzo is now in it’s 13th generation under Yoshihiko Yamamoto. There are 8 kurabito (brewery staff) and together they produce 1000 koku/180kL of sake a year.
Yamamoto san would like customers to enjoy rich, "real" unfiltered Muroka sake. When sake is filtered by charcoal, some of the richness and subtleties are lost. Texture is also affected. To produce sake without the charcoal filtration process, a high degree of care is required to ensure the sake is in clean, immaculate condition throughout the brewing process.
Yucho produce modern sake with a light spritz from trapped CO2 post bottling after pressing. All of their sake is brewed by long and low temperature fermentation (more than 30 days) even for their Junmai sake.
They are very strict in limiting distribution to stores that keep their sake in pristine refrigerated condition with just 70 partner bottleshops in Japan and a few overseas countries: UK, France, Spain, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China and Singapore.
Sakeshop - Chef’s Armoury are the sole importer for Kaze No Mori in Australia.
Yucho Shuzo Sake Online
- Kaze No Mori - Akitsuho 657
- Kaze No Mori - Yamada Nishiki 807
- Kaze No Mori - Tsuyuhakaze 807
- Kaze No Mori - Omachi 807
- Kaze No Mori - Alpha 2
- Kaze No Mori - Alpha 3
- Kaze No Mori - Alpha 5 (seasonal)
- Takacho Junmai Bodaimoto (seasonal)
Buy Kaze No Mori Sake Online
