上喜元 純米吟醸

Sakata Shuzo's Jokigen Junmai Ginjo emerges from a brewery assembled in 1949 from five Edo-period predecessor kuras in the historic port city of Sakata, Yamagata. President and master toji Shoichi Sato is recognized nationally as a leading figure in Yamagata's brewing revival, with close to 80% of the brewery's total production classified at honjozo grade or above. The Junmai Ginjo is built around Dewasansan (DEWA33) rice, a variety developed through nearly two decades of collaborative research between Yamagata's technical institute and its brewing industry, engineered to produce characteristic local flavors of red fruit and light sweetness balanced by clean acidity. Sakata's position on the Sea of Japan coast and the cold Tohoku winters provide ideal conditions for the low-temperature fermentation that Jokigen's ginjo aromatics depend upon.