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Wine thread - what are you enjoying?
- Thread starter GD Fan
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Trouble Maker
Addicted to Fun and Learning
Well, is rice wine ok? Anyone else like these?
I'm trying to 'learn' sake (nihonshu) while I am here, at least figure out what I like. Since the liquor and beer scene here is not great, other than whiskey which I don't really like.
So I definitely like them chilled, coffee is the mostly the only drink I like warm/hot.
But if this chart is to be believed it is probably also the kinds they warm versus chill. Because I definitely like something more on the left and maybe learning towards the top.
And something more in the dry-light area.
But I do need to branch out a bit more to experiment with other types.
We went out here a few months ago and had an amazing experience. We've heard multiple foreigners have this same experience. Someone there came up to us and started speaking in perfect English, asking us what we wanted to know. He put on an english DVD, made a spot for us to sit and I brought the tastings we already had there. I do not expect or even imagine I go into a place anywhere in another country let alone in the country side to speak English. But when it happens it makes things a lot easier for everyone since my Japanese is bad at best. This guy paused a meeting he was in to help us. He came up to us later after the meeting and handed us his card for any future contact or anything we might need. He was the president of the brewery.
We got a few bottles, and I had been somewhat saving them to take back, but I can always go back and get more or find it at a local sake shop. So, this is what I drank from there recently.
These were interesting since they are relatively 'close' in how they are made.
They both have a similar milling % of the rice (38% vs 45%), but the Daiginjo can have distilled alcohol added.
So, they can, and this case did end up being in a similar part of the flavor profile chart.
I can tell you what I know I don't like that one of my friends over here loves is nigori (unfiltered) nihonshus.
I'm trying to 'learn' sake (nihonshu) while I am here, at least figure out what I like. Since the liquor and beer scene here is not great, other than whiskey which I don't really like.
So I definitely like them chilled, coffee is the mostly the only drink I like warm/hot.
But if this chart is to be believed it is probably also the kinds they warm versus chill. Because I definitely like something more on the left and maybe learning towards the top.
And something more in the dry-light area.
But I do need to branch out a bit more to experiment with other types.
We went out here a few months ago and had an amazing experience. We've heard multiple foreigners have this same experience. Someone there came up to us and started speaking in perfect English, asking us what we wanted to know. He put on an english DVD, made a spot for us to sit and I brought the tastings we already had there. I do not expect or even imagine I go into a place anywhere in another country let alone in the country side to speak English. But when it happens it makes things a lot easier for everyone since my Japanese is bad at best. This guy paused a meeting he was in to help us. He came up to us later after the meeting and handed us his card for any future contact or anything we might need. He was the president of the brewery.
We got a few bottles, and I had been somewhat saving them to take back, but I can always go back and get more or find it at a local sake shop. So, this is what I drank from there recently.
These were interesting since they are relatively 'close' in how they are made.
They both have a similar milling % of the rice (38% vs 45%), but the Daiginjo can have distilled alcohol added.
So, they can, and this case did end up being in a similar part of the flavor profile chart.
I can tell you what I know I don't like that one of my friends over here loves is nigori (unfiltered) nihonshus.
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Sake is great! If you are in Japan try to get out to some of the tiny high end sake makers who do not export.
Prices vary with degree of milling, but the correlation is not perfect by any means - some use different rice varieties, and special water sources besides the cultures being different and maybe terroir-type local.
Prices vary with degree of milling, but the correlation is not perfect by any means - some use different rice varieties, and special water sources besides the cultures being different and maybe terroir-type local.
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Yeah, "Escoffier" is the tip that there will be... butter.
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BITE YOUR TONGUE!
OP
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Oh man I don't know the first thing about sake. Thanks for your post, this definitely gives me something to chew on (so to speak).
JustAnandaDourEyedDude
Addicted to Fun and Learning
I know next to nothing about wine, or alcohol in general. But I did come across somewhere that In Latvia, the measure of wine was an ohm, in the historical past. Also, I can picture the next James Bond on a mission in Japan to save the world from even higher-res audio, plying the yakuza villain's exquisite moll with sake and broguing "gofukujaku" into her ear, when she slips smoothly out of her kimono. gofukujaku being of course a historical measure of kimono length (width?) equal to 4/11 of a meter.
OP
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The last few months people keep calling me a liar when I tell them things like having the 1970 Monsanto CC at Chez Panisse for $40-50 off the wine list. At 20+yr. perfect.
BTW does anyone know why sake bottles are 720ml?
Audioagnostic
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Weingut Kirsten! I bought a truckload of their 2015 wines when we visited. Very concentrated wines. I really like their style. Did you have the alte Reben?
Wanted to visit again this year to replete our stock but this virus thing halted our annual Mosel holiday.
OP
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Chianti is frequently a section of the wine list where one can find good values, but that sounds extraordinary!
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It's all in the timing, in 1978 one could go into a respectable wine shop and buy 1964 La Tache for $35 or Le Montrachet from a top producer for $16.99.
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Trouble Maker
Addicted to Fun and Learning
I don't know the exactly history, I didn't look anything up, so take this with a grain of salt.
I do know this part, a historically traditional serving of nihonshu (sake) is 180ml.
So, 720ml is a nice round 4 servings. The kind of strange thing is, the smaller bottles are 300ml. I'm not sure about the larger ones. A dinner party or especially restaurants can move through some volume, so it's not abnormal to see large bottles which look to be about 2L. I found one place that talks about a 1.8L bottle, which is 'only' 10 servings.
The serving is called X-go, where X is the number and go is the sufix for (at least, maybe only) servings of nihonshu. Japanese has hundreds different sufixs for counters, and many times the prefix numbers change, which is a whole other conversation.
So, if I'm ordering 1 serving for myself I order ichigo.
They might bring this out in 1 glass/ceramic serving dish, in this case a 1/2-go. They half go sizes are nice because you can have a menu of very nice/highish end nihonshu and they are all $5/each or some variation of that.
Or with a smaller ceramic serving dish and the 180ml is in a separate chilled/warmed container to keep it cold/warm. Then I could order nigo for 2 for me and a friend. I haven't done this many times, but when I did they brought out the 2 small ceramic glasses and 1 larger container with the 360ml in it. When we've ordered many-go for a big table, usually they bring out a serving for each person.
The very traditional 180ml container is just a wooden box.
So they have this now, which is my favorite way to get served in a restaurant so far. They overfill the glass, usually right at your table, so you get to drink out of the wooden box at the end!
I really want some of these from Mashiko, a famous ceramics town near us. I couldn't bring myself to spend the ~$150 on a set the first time I saw them, but I decided after that I really want it so we will go back sometime to get this, as well as additional 'normal' plates and bowls. As far as I can tell the ceramic is two or more kinds/colors that are almost woven together. The technique might be called marbleized ceramics. This effect is not painted on.
They usually have a big fair out there over Golden Week (now, through next week) but I'm sure it's not happening due to corona.
Tanuki says hi from Mashiko!
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