In the Mood for Sake

Dear Sake friends,


The Marche Region it's located on the Italy's Centre-East cost, gently touched by the Adriatic Sea. The Region enjoys beautiful beaches, green hills and mountains all just half hour away from each other.
Quality of life is exceptional - at slow paste and with a close eye to tradition. The Country side is charming and nothing to envy to the more celebrated Tuscany.

Marche is also the Region where I've born and this year decided to go back for holiday in August. This time of the year the summer season is at its full with crowded beaches and holiday-makers taking on the space in Bars and Restaurants.
Mood Restaurant, at Civitanova Marche, is one of them. Chef Massimo head the kitchen since the opening and manage this gem of innovation and passion for food.

When I have proposed to Massimo on doing a special evening with food and Sake, instead of frowning his eyebrow and have a laugh...he said "sure, why not". 

The menu was agreed in a few hours and the guests list was full in just a couple of days.
On the night of the tasting the long central table by the restaurant outdoor' area preluded to a great night. I did not know what to expect... - a sake dinner in Marche, at a seafood Restaurant and with a wide audience of Celebrated Winemakers from the Region - a recipe for a disaster or a great souvenir - thankfully the latter...

Mood Restaurant | Civitanova Marche | Italy

On the table we had 8 sakes and a five courses menu to go with it. The menu was designed to stay away from being Japanese, but with the clear objective to play with ingredients reach of Umami.

As the table started to fill, from my side I had my wife, my brother and his wife - also the Directors of Tekna that runs the acclaimed Chef Academy in Terni (Umbria). Chef Massimo had a line up of Marche's Wineries represented like Maria Pia Castelli, Rio Maggio and La Monacesca represented by the flamboyant owner Aldo Cifola. Pierpaolo Rastelli, wine critic and writer for Slow Food closed the table. Everyone was welcomed with a glass of peach sparkling from Ozeki (Hana Fuga) and a sip of Sawa Sawa from Choryo Brewery - to take them through the 2 styles of making sparkling sake.

All seemed intrigued by it....all well so far.....ice broken!

The evening continued with Azure Ginjo from Tosatsuru and another Ginjo from Fukugao - both paired with raw king prawn on a parmesan cheese foam and a Gaspacho with basil and dried shrimps. At this point everyone was fascinated to discover that sake isn't an obscure beverage that taste rough and sipped warm - but a refined beverage with a unique set of flavors able to offer a unique experience....mission accomplished!

Massimo Garofoli
Head Chef at Mood

The evening continued with a touch of modernity with Isake junmai and a carpaccio of Seabass with melon and caviar - followed by Maltagliati pasta with a fish Ragu paired with Sasa Nigori Ginjo from Tedorigawa.
At this point the evening geared up with lively conversations and discussions around wine & sake - financial crisis & dolce vita - and another toast.

For the break between the pasta and the main, we have savoured a chilled sip of Yuzu sake from Shushinkan - delicate, refreshing and enjoyed as a palate cleanser, like we could do with a fruity sorbet.
The main course was an extravagant combination of tuna and veal, in a way that only Massimo can explain and execute - inspired by the infamous Vitel Tonne'. We matched with Fukuju Dai-ginjo from Shishinkan, which at this stage, was declared the favourite among all guests.

The last thought goes to an evening that entertained 12 new Sake fans and more importantly has given them the tools to enjoy this extraordinary beverage. The parallels between wine and sake are always common and even if the 2 lines never cross - both are there to enhance the dining experience at any level and with any type of cuisines.


Surely a night to remember and a special thanks to the Mood's team that made this possible.

Food for thoughts!

Giorgio Vallesi

Dear Sake friends,

The 1^st Sake Open House tasting went very well last month. For the first time we have managed to present some new and interesting product to the market and be more proactive…good!

The most successful part was to see the large variety of styles and expressions that Sake and Shochu can showcase. Considering that what we had is a 0.0001% of the market offer, its quite impressive!

We had some solid confirmation over the quality of the Shushinkan and Kozaemon ranges. The Fukuju Junmai Ginjo and Fukuju Dai-ginjo could represent the highlights of one of the finest Brewery to my view. With the skilled help of Minatomoto-san, Sake sommelier at SHushinkan, we have been introduced to the Frozen Umeshu’s best serve, which is due to do well in Dubai.

http://www.enjoyfukuju.com/english/our_brewery/index.html

Kozaemon was also present with the two Junmai Dai-Ginjo and the Kozaemon House Junmai. Doing a tasting beside the person that actually produce them, always  add texture to it. The Shiroku Junmai Kabosu Yuzu liqueur showed a very delicate and natural infusion as well as the beautifully packaged Junmai Umeshu.

www.kozaemon.jp/english/

The session then featured over 70 new products and here some highlights:

Shinshu Meijo, Jo-Con. This is a concentrated Junmai using the freezing technique to achieve an ABV level of 38%! Beautiful packaging! The liquid, dark in colour due to the concentration process – it is very deep in flavour, complex – surely an experimental attempt that creates unique flavours. Probably on the rocks as after dinner could work. Very expensive too! From the same Brewery I would also mention the Takizawa Tokujo Honjozo – very clean and elegant style of Honjozo from cold climate.

Okadaya from Shimane had some interesting stuff. The Kurikuri Chestnat Shochu could be interesting in cocktails – the Kikuya Pear liqueur and the Red Moon Shiso leaf liqueur were good example of how the category of flavoured sake is successfully entering new territories like cocktail bars. Both were balanced, fresh and naturally infused. They also had a Wasabi Shochu which I thought was a bit too extreme.

Fukugao Brewery from Niigata was another good discovery. The Usuya Ginjo and Junmai Dai-Ginjo were superb in elegance and balance. We also had the Genshu that is stored for few months in whiskey barrel, very unique and interesting - still have to find out for how long and which whiskey though.

Nanbu Bijin had few products as well and there is no need to praise the quality of their products. In this instance we had on the table the funky Strawberry and Blueberry Non Sugar Sake. Both come on a tall bottle of 36cl and both are a natural explosion of fruit and skills on making quality product. Surprising was the natural fruit flavours that both brings without any artificial back-up. Very interesting and surely soon in Dubai!

Fujii Brewery from Hiroshima was new to me and they had 3 Junmai Dai-Ginjo, Ryusei brand on White, Gold and Black label – very vigorous, complex and full body – all of them at around 17% ABV for some powerful brew form warm climate.

Shichida from Saga had 2 interesting Junmai sake as well. I haven’t tasted anything from Saga before and these Junmai where very aromatic  – while the palate was delicate, elegant and with a mild bitter after taste. The Shichida Migaki Junmai was my favourite versus his brother Yamahai Karakuchi Junmai

Right after another Saga Brewery, Asabiraki – with the Yume Araki Ginjo and the Amabuki Junmai Ginjo Sparkling. Other highlights were the Sawa Sawa Junmai sparkling and one of the most beautiful sake bottle I have seen before – the Light Mizu No Eau Dai-Ginjo comes on a 40cl decanter, extremely modern and elegant – unfortunately the high expectation from the packaging led to a disappointing tasting – I have found it too bland and weak. It’s a 10.5% ABV which supposed to be surely delicate and mild – but for me didn’t work.

From them the highlight for me was the Strawberry Yeast Omachi Nama Junmai Ginjo. The yeast gives this sake a very fragrant, fresh and herbaceous nose – the palate is fruity, delicate and the strawberry influence can subtly be picked up. I found it very easy to drink and an interesting style of sake to possibly be featured and experimented across several style of cuisine.

There you go….another one from Saga. Amabuki had several expressions on the table and the highlight was the Ura Aiyama Dai-Ginjo – Refreshing, lively, clean and enough complexity to stand on challenging food flavours like truffles and cheese.

As you can see we had a lot going on and the diversity and versatility of sake is still the main thing that strikes me the most every time. The magic that every Brewery can do in the cellar from a rice grain is always impressive and entertaining.

Speak soon!

Giorgio Vallesi