Tetsuya Sakai

Seven with Signor Sake: Tetsuya Sakai (Chiyo Shuzo, Nara)

I’m asking seven questions to my favourite sake makers to hear their story and get their take on the centuries-old craft. 

Tetsuya Sakai never planned on leaving his home of Hokkaido but work and eventually love had other plans for him. With no prior knowledge of sake brewing, Tetsuya left his winemaking career in Yamanashi to brew at Chiyo after marrying the brewery owner’s daughter. 

The brewery was founded when a member of the Kubo family set up their own brewery as a spin off from Kubo Honke. If you haven’t noticed, Chiyo Shuzo and Kubo Honke, also located in Nara, have the same family crest. Although the brewery was founded in 1873, Chiyo relocated to their present location in 1902 near the Shinomine mountain range after buying a disused brewery.

After learning the ropes as an assistant brewer, Tetsuta launched the Shinomine range to complement their traditional Kujira line. He became the head brewer in 2004, nine years after he joined. In addition to sourcing over ten varieties of rice from around the country, including his home of Hokkaido, they started to cultivate their own Yamada Nishiki rice in 1995, increasing the number of paddies they manage to around ten percent of their total rice needs. Tetsuya says that cultivating rice deepens their understanding of brewing. With little to no fertilisers and pesticides used, they operate a circular method where sake by-products are added back to the fields.



1. Before becoming a sake brewer, you were a winemaker in Yamanashi. What was your goal when you started at the brewery and did your wine background help you with sake brewing?

My wine background may have been the motivation for me wanting to grow rice ourselves at the brewery as well as ageing sake. I’m not sure whether I can say that my winemaking experience directly helped with sake brewing, but I certainly learned a lot from that experience.

When I was a student, I thought that making wine would be easier than making sake, so I chose wine. I liked Hokkaido, so I had no intention of leaving at first, but there weren't many jobs around. Grace Winery started making Haskap wine in Hokkaido and they were recruiting locals, but I got placed in Yamanashi and ended up working there for about five years.

I never liked sake with a lot of amino acids, so I wanted to brew sake with a low amino acid content. My next goal was to make unpasteurised sake that didn’t spoil and my final goal was to make sake that ages well. These three goals are still the same today. 

I felt that old-style sake was heavy and not elegant. Twenty-five years ago, I thought that ginjo was a better style because of that, but I don’t feel that now. We don't use the typical ginjo approach to brewing anymore, because if you make it carefully you can make a sake with less amino acids without polishing the rice too much.

2. What has been the most challenging aspect since joining the brewery?

When sake wasn’t selling, it was difficult to raise funds and manage the brewery. In terms of brewing, there hasn’t been any issue. One person quit in the middle of brewing season in December one year, and it was a struggle for a while, but we hired a part-timer and handled it in the end. Getting up early was tough when I was young, but as I get older, it doesn't bother me. I think management has been the most difficult overall.

“I think there’s a terroir of water. The difference that comes from water should be cherished.”

3. There’s a lot of controversy about whether we should even be adopting wine terms for sake. Can ‘terroir’— an expression of time and place— exist in the sake world like it does with wine? 

I think there’s a terroir of water. The difference that comes from water should be cherished. The water we use is soft. Yucho Shuzo brewery, which is close by, has surprisingly hard water, which may be because of the difference in altitude. We are in a mountain at the altitude of 125 metres. Yucho is in front of the station and is located much lower.

A terroir of rice is maybe pushing it a little. Even if the same producer grows the rice, if the fields are far apart or the soil is different, the taste of the rice will be different. I think we should be more sensitive to that difference. We should ask farmers to do their best not to mix different kinds of rice during growing or milling. 

“I believe it’s an important point for selling sake overseas in the future, and it will also contribute to the local community.”

4. How do you go about choosing rice varieties with so many to choose from?

I prefer using old rice varieties. Our Omachi is from Setocho in Okayama Prefecture but there are about 28 rice farmers in Setocho alone. We don’t specify which farmer we purchase from. We grow four hectares of Yamada Nishiki, about 10% of our needs. I would like to increase the number of rice paddies that we manage to about five to six hectares even if it has no economic merit. I believe it’s an important point for selling sake overseas in the future, and it will also contribute to the local community.

5. Some people think premium sake is synonymous with sake made with highly polished rice. What’s your view on rice polishing?

It would be cool if I could look at rice and know what percentage it should be polished to for a tasty sake, but that’s really difficult to do. I think the quality of sake has improved for sake made with all levels of polished rice. I think that sake brewed with less polished rice will become more common. Ginjo sake is so highly polished that it loses its character. Sake brewing that can bring out the potential of rice will be more of a priority in the future for sure.

“I think that sake brewed with less polished rice will become more common.”

6. Can you tell us about your sake ranges at Chiyo and what you’re trying to express with them?

I want people to experience acidity and clarity with our sake. In the past, there were many sakes with a lot of acidity, but it needs to be a clean acidity. Just having a lot of acidity isn’t enough. With that purpose in mind, it’s important to make koji well. For all of our sake, we’re using a so-haze approach for our koji. The acidity comes from the long working time of the koji.

Kujira is our traditional line of sake. We use locally grown Yamada Nishiki, yeast number 9, as well as a standard brewing method. I want drinkers to feel the taste of our Yamada Nishiki from Kujira. The taste is a little different from sake made with Yamada Nishiki from, say, Hyogo, but I want drinkers to experience that difference.

Shinomine, our other line, was launched with the idea to mature it. Initially, only Yamada Nishiki and Omachi were used. This is because older rice varieties taste better when aged. But I was curious from a technical point of view, so I started to use various types of rice and blending yeast types. I think we are at a point where we can recognise the rice variety used for a sake, so the next step is not only to change the rice type, but also experience the difference in the rice production area and farmer. It’s a little more challenging compared with grapes.

With our third line of sake, Doburoku, I want drinkers to feel the goodness of completely unfiltered sake. It’s bold and less delicate. Making a good sake by pressing it requires a very delicate technique. We want you to taste the goodness that comes from not pressing it. We’ve been making Doburoku since we got the brewing license twelve years ago.

7. What does the future look like at Chiyo Shuzo? 

We want to increase the number of rice fields we manage and also develop sake that ages well. Brewing a low-alcohol sake is another theme I’m considering. Junmaishu is usually on the heavier side. There’s no lightness like Honjouzo grade. Producing a Ginjo grade by polishing the rice more is one way to lighten the sake, but the sweetness and aroma tend to dominate. We have to move away from focusing on polishing ratios. So a solution is to create a low-alcohol Junmai sake, to have a tasty, robust sake that you won't get tired of drinking, which ages well.
 

“Brewing a low-alcohol sake is another theme I’m considering.”

SIGNOR SAKE FAVOURITE

Shinomine Moromi Nigori

Named after the mountain range that overlooks the brewery, the Shinomine line was created for ageing and is brewed with a number of rice and yeast types. With the Moromi Nigori label, some of the sediment left in the tank after pressing, is added to the bottle to create a slightly cloudy style. Fresh, silky and creamy with a slight spritz and ripping acidity. Pair with bold and spicy Thai or Sichuan dishes.

Rice type: Oyama-nishiki
Polished to: 50%
Yeast: No. 9
Alcohol: 17%
Category: Junmai Ginjo Nigori
Subcategory: unpasteurised, undiluted.

Official Chiyo Shuzo website

https://chiyoshuzo.co.jp/