Zeka Vineyards

Sake tasting at Nishiki Market in Osaka Japan. They produce their own sake and shoyou (fortified plum wine). The Japanese sake grade system is just as complex as the European wine grade system i think. Junmai, Ginko, Daiginko, Junmai Daiginko all represent different grades and flavors and degree of rice polishing before making the sake.

It was a fun and focused experience to try all difference grades from all difference places, even from 7-11. (The most expensive of¥600 [$4] was not drinkable even with food.) At the end of the trip I have settled on a grade and style that I like.

A gem that I discovered is amasake, which means the mother of sake. This is the fermented rice drink prior to the alcoholic fermentation process to make sake. We tasted some of this from this producer and it was amazing. Flavorful and not too sweet. And loads of probiotics. I can drink this all day.

Can't say it better.

There is more philosophy in a bottle of wine than in all the books. -Louis Pasteur