Wataribune

Huchu Homare, founded in 1854 in Ishioka, Ibaraki Prefecture, built the Wataribune brand around the revival of an heirloom sake rice variety nearly lost to extinction. The seventh-generation director spent years tracking down just fourteen grams of seed from the Ministry of Agriculture's national research institute, then cultivated it under contract at the foot of Mount Tsukuba. By 1996, the revived Wataribune Junmai Daiginjo had won a gold medal at the National Sake Competition, and the brand has since expanded to international markets including the United States.