Shizuoka Sake Tasting: Oomuraya Brewery-Tokubetsu Junmai “Oni Otome” Yume (conducted at la Sommeliere in Shizuoka City)

I don’t mind repeating it all the time but I prefer conducting sake tastings in the right environment but not many places are propitious for that exercise or willing to help.
But La Sommeliere in Miyuki Cho, Aoi Ku, Shizuoka City is certainly becoming a habit as not only I can conduct my tasting in the best conditions possible but also exchange views at the same time!

Today the occasion was made the more special that it was Hiromi’s birthday (February 25th)!

This time we tasted a nectar created by Oomuraya Brewery in Shimada City, part of a series of 4 limited seasonal brews dedicated to the partner of their “Onigoroshi/Kill a Goblin”, that is “Oniotome/The Goblin’s Wife”!
This is the Spring edition called “Dream”! By the end of the end year they will get married!

A dangerous lady actually when you realize she bears horns!

It is not indicated on the back label, but the rice used is exclusively Shizuoka Prefecture-grown “Homarefuji” sake rice, which is getting much deserved attention from all over the country as it is a hybrid of Yamada Nishiki sake rice, but with shorter stems, and far more resistant to the climate vagaries. It has recently reached maturity as far as brewers are concerned as all levels of premium sake are brewed with it!

Rice: Homarefuji (Shizuoka Prefecture)
Rice milled down to 60%
Dryness: + 4
Acidity: 1.3
Amino acids: 1.1
Bottled in February 2016

Clarity: Very clear
Color: Faint golden hue
Aroma: Dry, flowery and fruity. Melon, rapeseed flower (“na no hana”), flowers
Body: Fluid, slightly sirupy
Taste: Dry and fruit attack backed up with puissant junmai petillant.
Complex and fluctuating.
Dry melon, rapeseed flowers.
Starts on a sweetish note before quickly turning dry.
Lingers for a little while before disappearing with tangerines and faint coffee beans and almonds. Melon makes a very late appearance at the back of the palate. Coffee beans will also make a late surge with further sips.

Overall: As usual a very elegant and complex sake.
Sake made with homarefuji rice has the intriguing particularity of fluctuating inside your palate revealing different facets in waves that can appear well after you thought it had completely departed. Don’t be taken aback if you are actually conducted a formal tasting and keep your pen in hand!
Will please ladies in particular, although gentlemen will appreciate its eclectic propensity to pair with many dishes if you decide to savor it along a repast.
Thoroughly enjoyable on its own, either slightly chilled or at room temperature, as well as all along a meal, be it an aperitif, a main drink, or a digestif!
Suggested pairings: “Asari no sakamai”/sake-steamed cockles, “Na no hana no karashi ae”/steamed rapeseed flowers seasoned in Japanese mustard, “Shinjo/Kyoto-style steamed white-flesh fish balls in light broth/”suimono”, Japanese-style scallops shuumai, White-flesh fish sushi. Foie gras as an aperitif!

LA SOMMELIERE

420-0857 Shizuoka City, Aoi Ku, Miyuki Cho, 7-5, Aiseido Bldg, 1F
Tel. & Fax: 054-266-5085
Opening hours: 11:00~22:00, 12:00~18:00 on Sundays & National Holidays
FACEBOOK (Japanese)
Entirely non-smoking!

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