Domaine Senkin defining the ‘New World’ of Japanese sake

June 2016:

I recently had the opportunity to meet Kazuki Usui, the CEO of Senkin Shuzo (or Domaine Senkin, as Usui-san prefers it being known) at a masterclass and dinner hosted at the China Club by the Drinks Business Hong Kong, in collaboration with Jebsen Fine Wines. As the 11th generation running this ancient brewery that dates to 1806, Usui-san believes that it is his duty to sustain the traditions while innovating with new techniques and styles to ensure the brewery’s continuation in a world challenged by evolving palates in both alcoholic beverages and food. With formal training as a wine sommelier, Usui-san never set out to be a traditional brewer of sake, following the standard recipes for sake brewing. He also understands that to a degree, wine selection at restaurants is driven by grape variety with regional style to pair with the food, whereas sake is more likely to be chosen based on the popularity of the brand. Therefore, his priority was to build the brand for Senkin. Putting a stamp on his individuality, he decided to adopt the Burgundian name of ‘domaine’ for Senkin, and to follow the concept of ‘domaine’, that he would only make sake with ingredients under his full control.

 

Kazuki Usui clutching a bottle of Senkin Tsuru-Kame 19

As demonstrated in the first half of the masterclass where we tasted 5 sake examples from 5 different breweries and prefectures, each with their own qualities of water, defined as hardness of water (amount of calcium carbonate and minerals such as potassium, magnesium and phosphates), water seemed a more dominant factor in influencing the style of sake, much more so than the rice variety. This was brought to light by the example of a sake from Hyogo with hard water called miyamizu and Nagano where the water hardness measured the lowest amongst the 5 examples (almost 1/6 the level of the water in Hyogo). Today, Senkin uses the same water to grow the rice and to brew sake. All the rice varieties in his sake portfolio come from fields in the Tochigi prefecture where the brewery is based.

Further, the brewery has eschewed the special designations requirements (Tokutei Meisho). Instead, Usui-san has developed his own range of ‘Classic’ and ‘Modern’ where in the former, the seimaibuai (rice polishing rate) for both kake mai and koji mai is 50%, giving a rich and rounded style, and in the latter, the seimaibuai for koji mai is 35% and for kake mai, 50%, giving a more elegant style. (Typically in sake production, koji mai or koji rice accounts for about 15-20% of total rice requirement. This is rice inoculated with koji mould that serves to split the starch into sugars for fermentation by yeast into alcohol. Kake mai is the remaining steamed rice.) The more the rice is polished, the closer we get to the shinpaku (starch core), the more refined, balanced and pure the style of sake, with pronounced aromatic profile, smoother texture and crisp finish. Within the special designation sake or premium sake which only accounts for 30% of total sake production in Japan, a sake can only qualify as Honjozo with a minimum of 70% seimaibuai, and 60% for Ginjo and 50% for Daiginjo, although 35% seems the norm for high quality Junmai Daiginjo. Rice polishing is laborious and requires time and care. Usui-san has just produced a barrel of sake with just 7% seimaibuai. It took 15 days to achieve this level of polishing rate, which reduced the brown rice grain to just a mere white speck of extreme fragility. This nerve-wrecking process would necessitate meticulous instructions in soaking and steaming, all supervised with extreme care. It was produced in batches of 20 kg and the soaking took exactly 1 minute 30 seconds, no more no less, in water at 6°C. This was followed by steaming for 45 minutes. (Compared with a 50% seimaibuai batch of 200kg, the steaming would normally take 90 minutes.) For 2.5 tonnes (2,500 kg) of rice, this method only produced 400 bottles, instead of the standard 5,000 bottles. Senkin produced one barrel only of this 7% seimaibuai sake, made with Kame-no-O, the signature rice of Tochigi prefecture, that has earthy complexities, dry style and a high degree of acidity. Half of this barrel was exclusively bottled for Jebsen Fine Wines for their own label Kikusaki. It is no surprise that Kikusaki Nana (‘Nana’ is the Japanese word for ‘seven’) comes with a high retail price tag of HK$ 3,200 a bottle. Usui-san recommended service temperature of 8°C.  

 

When asked Usui-san why he went for 7%, he replied that another brewery had produced 8% and he wanted to push the boundary further. While he can continue to experiment with the seimaibuai (ie going lower), he will turn his attention to refinement of other production techniques. We tasted his Nature-un. It was made using the kimoto technique, with natural lactic acid bacteria and natural yeast, and a seimaibuai over 90%, quite the reverse of the 7%. The intensity of umami flavours was astonishing, with such savoury complexities of dried Chinese mushroom, truffle and yeast. From the expressions on the face of a few participants, it might be more of an acquired taste. I kept some behind for the dinner and thought it went extremely well with the fried rice with roasted duck, mushroom, shrimp and conpoy in abalone sauce, scented with black truffle, for that explosion of umami flavours!   According to Usui-san, this can be enjoyed at either 18-20°C or at 45-50°C.

In future, Usui-san will also be experimenting with different types of barrels. He used a Bourbon barrel in the production of the 7% seimaibuai sake.

Contrary to the practice of adding water to dilute sake from the genshu state of 17-20% abv, there is no such practice at Senkin. So technically, they are all genshu.  In addition, there is no fining nor filtration at Senkin.

The hallmark of Senkin sakes is the balance of acidity and sugar, sometimes more than barely noticeable sweetness. The acidity was particularly marked for Senkin Issei, a 35% seimaibuai, based on Yamadanishiki rice.  It would go particularly well with fish and seafood, according to Usui-san. The noticeable sweetness could work very well with lightly spicy food, and I would like to retry the Modern Senkin Yamadanishiki with Thai cuisine for example. In fact, everyone thought this sake went very well with the ginger in the dish of braised pork spareribs with citrus fruit paste and young ginger, but the sweetness of the citrus fruit paste was a bit too overpowering for the sake.

Perhaps the widely acknowledged all-rounder and most wine-like was the Tsuru-Kame 19, with 19% seimaibuai and Kame-no-O as the rice variety. Usui-san recommended serving it at 8-10°C.  I likened it to a Chablis, with energy, tension and balanced freshness. 

Senkin is definitely charting new waters for a traditional beverage of over 1,500 years. The mystique of sake is that unlike wine (a grape variety, married with climate and soil, that would give an expected style), with sake, it is not so obvious, with so many variations that could make a difference, from water quality, soaking time, soaking temperature, rice polishing rates for koji mai and kake mai, kimoto or sokujo, natural yeast or cultured yeast, pasteurization or not, filtration or not, to ageing methods, and so much more! This matrix of variations is not meant to be confusing.  Rather, it opens up new avenues for a traditional beverage to find new amateurs who can enjoy it with different types of cuisine and on different occasions. There should be a sake for everyone and every moment!

The sakes tasted in the masterclass and dinner were:

Masterclass

Flight 1 

1) Manotsuru Junmai Daiginjo (真野鶴純米大吟醸実来): Koshitanrei, 35% RPR, Niigata Prefecture

2) Hakuko Junmai Daiginjo 50 Sarasoju (白鴻純米大吟醸沙羅双樹50): Yamadanishki, 50% RPR, Hiroshima Prefecture

3) Fukuju Junmai Mikagego (福寿純米御影郷): Yamadanishki, 70% RPR, Hyogo Prefecture

4) Takizawa Tokujo Honjozo (瀧澤特撰): Hitogokochi, 59% RPR, Nagano Prefecture

5) Michizakura Junmai Aiyama (三千櫻純米愛山): Aiyama, 60% RPR, Gifu Prefecture

 

Masterclass Flight 1

Flight 2

6) Senkin Tsuru-Kame 19 (仙禽鶴亀19): Kame-no-O, 19% RPR, Tochigi Prefecture

7) Senkin Issei (仙禽一聲): Yamadanishiki, 35% RPR, Tochigi Prefecture

8) Modern Senkin Omachi (モダン仙禽雄町): Omachi, 50% RPR, Tochigi Prefecture

9) Classic Senkin Kame-no-O (クラッシク仙禽亀の尾): Kame-no-O, 50% RPR, Tochigi Prefecture

10) Senkin Nature Un (仙禽ナチュラルアン): Kame-no-O, >90% RPR, Tochigi Prefecture

 

Masterclass Flight 2

Dinner

1) Senkin Issei (仙禽一聲): Yamadanishiki, 35% RPR, Tochigi Prefecture

2) Kikusaki Nana(菊咲 7): Kame-no-O, 7% RPR, Tochigi Prefecture

3) Modern Senkin Yamadanishiki (モダン仙禽山田錦): Yamadanishiki, 50% RPR, Tochigi Prefecture

4) Senkin Tsuru-Kame 19 (仙禽鶴亀19): Kame-no-O, 19% RPR, Tochigi Prefecture

5) Classic Senkin Kame-no-O (クラッシク仙禽亀の尾): Kame-no-O, 50% RPR, Tochigi Prefecture

6) Modern Senkin Omachi (モダン仙禽雄町): Omachi, 50% RPR, Tochigi Prefecture

7) Modern Senkin MUKU (モダン仙禽無垢): Hitogokochi, 50% RPR, Tochigi Prefecture

8) Senkin Ume-jiri (仙禽梅尻)

 

Dinner Selection

Ganpai!