The Choice of Cherry Wood Barrels
Harmony with French Cuisine—and Its Limitations People often say that sake pairs well with French cuisine. Delicate umami, gentle acidity, and the smooth texture derived from rice—those qualities certainly make it so. But when sake is matched against the true mainstream of French cooking, it reveals a structural contrast. It possesses no tannins. Wine contains tannins, the bitter, astringent compounds extracted from grape skins and barrels. These compounds cut through fat and serve as the “backbone” that brings harmony to complex sauces. Because sake naturally lacks this backbone, pairings with French dishes rich in butter or cream can sometimes feel blurred or unfocused. Yamanashi Meijo, a brewery in Hakushu, Hokuto City, Yamanashi Prefecture, confronted this culinary challenge. Founded in 1750, this brewery has dedicated over 270 years to the craft of sake. Their chosen approach was the integration of cherry wood barrels.
An Unprecedented Harmony of Three Techniques This distinctive profile was born through a dialogue with the legendary French chef Alain Ducasse and Gérard Margeon, chef sommelier of Ducasse Paris. The brewing process weaves together three distinct methods. It begins with kijoshu, an ancient technique said to date back to the Heian period, where finished sake replaces water during brewing, yielding a profound umami. Next, a portion of this kijoshu is rested in barrels crafted from Japanese cherry wood. Rather than French or American oak, the subtle bitterness and astringency imparted by the cherry wood function akin to tannins in wine, providing a necessary backbone. Margeon described this characteristic as an essential “structural complexity.” Finally, the sake undergoes secondary fermentation in the bottle, a method reminiscent of Champagne, allowing the yeast to produce fine, persistent effervescence. The confluence of kijoshu, cherry wood aging, and in-bottle fermentation creates an entirely distinct expression of sake.
The Spring Waters of Mount Kaikomagatake and Expressive Yeast The brewing water is drawn from the Ojiragawa River, fed by springs from Mount Kaikomagatake in the Southern Alps. It is remarkably soft water, slowly filtered over time through granite strata, and is recognized as one of Japan’s 100 famous waters. For fermentation, the brewery uses two specific yeast strains that produce high levels of malic acid, lending the sake a bright acidity closer to that of fine wine. The brewery began developing its sparkling sake technology in 2010, refining its craft through repeated training at Yamanashi’s wine research institute. Following the release of its first sparkling sake in 2015, the collaborative bottle with Ducasse was born in 2021. The result represents 11 years of meticulous development and the accumulated expertise of generations.
Resonance with French Gastronomy Its intricate profile quickly found resonance among France’s top sommeliers, earning the Platinum Award in the sparkling category at Kura Master in Paris during its launch year. It also garnered consistent recognition at the IWC from 2022 through 2024, and was subsequently served to world leaders at the 2023 G7 Hiroshima Summit. According to Margeon’s tasting notes, the aroma unfolds gracefully: it opens with lily of the valley, transitions into a heart of white peach and melon, and leaves a gentle, spicy finish of cardamom and pepper. The integration of cherry wood has brought a new dimension to sake’s terroir, offering a distinctly Japanese structure to a traditionally tannin-free beverage, entirely different from the backbone of wine. The dialogue between this historic 270-year-old brewery and French culinary mastery illustrates the expanding horizons of sake culture. (Mr. Bacchus)
This article is intended solely to explore the brewing philosophy and cultural heritage of Yamanashi Meijo and the SHICHIKEN Selection Alain Ducasse Sparkling Sake brand, and does not aim to promote or encourage the consumption of alcohol. / บทความนี้จัดทำขึ้นเพื่อนำเสนอข้อมูลเกี่ยวกับปรัชญาการผลิตและมรดกทางวัฒนธรรมของ Yamanashi Meijo และแบรนด์ SHICHIKEN Selection Alain Ducasse Sparkling Sake เท่านั้น มิได้มีเจตนาเพื่อส่งเสริมหรือโฆษณาเครื่องดื่มแอลกอฮอล์ สำหรับผู้มีอายุ 20 ปีขึ้นไป โปรดดื่มอย่างรับผิดชอบ