Kimoto

Kimoto is one of the key words of Sake. There are lots of websites explaining this word in Japanese. Even in English we can find some articles.

e.g.
http://www.daishichi.com/english/theme_park/data_menu.html
http://sakeaustralia.com/2012/01/25/kimoto/

In short, Kimoto (and Yamahai) Sake uses wild lactic acid bacteria for getting the lactic acid. Originally they used wild yeast too. (Some breweries use wild yeast even now.)

My partner did a kind of Kimoto method for her sourdough bread making. For the yeast starter, she used only (organic) wheat flour and water. So the yeast and the lactic acid bacteria is both wild. It is the best bread she has ever made.

Is Junmaishu the next trend in Australia?!

Here is an article through The Sydney Morning Herald about a sake importer, Black Market Sake. We noticed they have a similar passion for Junmaishu.

 

Please click above picture link to go to the article.

Kan-wine (?)

Do you remember our previous post about "Kan-zake"? One of sake's unique characters is that sake has different characters at different temperatures. (However today's topic is not about sake but wine.)

This wine is "Le Péché Mignon" 2008 Pinot noir, King valley. I purchased it in Beechworth, and I quite like it. But I was very tired after playing a futsal game, so it tasted too heavy for me today. Then I decided trying this wine at a warmer temperature.

I heated it to around 40℃ (or possibly slightly higher?) The acidity was activated but the mildness was also increased. The balance of the acidity and mildness was good, and the acidity felt more gentle than when it was cold for my tired body.

I don't think every wine can be heated, but I just found some of them could be. "Kan-wine" has some possibility for me now.

* Every sake is not good heated either. It must be a well made junmai-shu. Many of them are designed to be drunk warm.

Sake wa Junmai 2012 (report #5) : Wineries in Beechworth

Continuing on from our last post, some brewers visited Beechworth on 10th July.

Bridge road breweries, nice pizza and beer tasting for lunch.

 The pizza restaurant is also a beer brewery, 

we took a tour of the factory.

 After lunch, we visited 2 wineries; Savaterre and Giaconda.

 The entrance of the cave (wine cellar) at Giaconda

 The cave is full of wine barrels.

 We tasted some very rare wine from Savaterre and Giaconda.

 The tasting was very serious.

This is very rare picture too, 

five top brewers from Australia and Japan.

Thank you, Keppell (Savaterre), Nobue-san (Savaterre) and Peter (Giaconda) for having us.

Sake wa Junmai 2012 (report #4) : Sake tasting in Beechworth

After the sake tasting at The Grace Hotel Sydney, we had some small tastings at restaurants around Sydney and one in Victoria.

On 10th July, some of our guest brewers visited the restaurant "The Provenance" in Beechworth, Victoria.

An hour flight from Sydney and an hour drive to Beechworth

 The brewers

 The Provenance : the building was an old bank

 Planning the sake matching with the food

 The owner chef Michael's speech

 The dinner was casual and the brewers shared the table with guests.

 Raw garfish, puffed rice, dashi lime gel,

orange salt, nori powder, seaweed

 Butter sauteed cauliflower, pickled cauliflower,

brown butter gel, candied pine nuts, scallop floss

Sakes from Shinkame, Izumibashi and Umetsu

Thank you, Michael and The Provenance staff for hosting such a lovely event.

P.S.

Sorry I did not take pictures after the second course, we were too busy eating and drinking!

Sake wa Junmai 2012 (report #3) : Lucky draw

The happy smiles of lucky draw winners.

Sake wa Junmai 2012 (report #2) : Breweries

Photos of our guest brewers.

 Ms. Ohta (Bentenmusume)

 Rei (Sakenet) and Mr. Hashiba (Izumibashi)

 Mr. Morinaga (Komagura)

 Mr. and Mrs. Ogawahara (Shinkame)

 Mr. Nagayama (Taka)

 Mr. Taketsuru (Taketsuru)

Rei (Sakenet) and Mr. Umetsu (Umetsu)