About the brewery : The Yamanashi Meijo brewery is located at the foot of the Japanese Alps, in the north of Yamanashi prefecture on the island of Honshu. It was founded in 1750 by the descendant of a long line of brewers who had originally settled in the Nagano region. Mr Kitahara, the seventh generation of this family, discovered water of exceptional quality in the heart of Hakushu. He decided to set up his own brewery there. This pure water comes from the melting snow of Mount Kai Komagatake, whose summit rises to an altitude of over 2,900m. It feeds the region's springs after being slowly filtered through the granite rock, picking up the minerals that are essential for sake production.
Recognition came quickly, and Yamanashi Meijo's reputation spread beyond the boundaries of the locality, to the point where it became a favourite haunt of Emperor Meiji, who stayed here during his official visits. Since that time, the majestic family home has been elevated to the status of a place of great historical interest in Japan. Today, the making of sake is still a family affair, and the 13th generation pays particular attention to detail, including long, low-temperature fermentations, with the aim of preserving the signature of Yamanashi Meijo sakes: sakes that are both delicate and rich, with the remarkable quality of the spring water intact.

Detailed tasting notes : A sake with light amber reflections. The nose, discreet, is pleasant and rather present for sake of this category. It evokes ripe fruit, banana, pear. On the palate, the attack is supple and thirst-quenching, it immediately reveals the quality of spring water, a trademark of the Shichiken house. It then evolves on more power with the expression of spicy notes, anise and white pepper. Bitterness and tension for this well structured, fine and powerful Honjozo. The finish is warm and punctuated by pleasant notes of spices.

Recommended chords : This honjozo is the sake easy to marry par excellence. To discover at different temperatures, from fresh to heated, throughout the meal, and with a wide range of culinary preparations, from the simplest and daily, to the most sophisticated.