A 15th century Japanese adage warns that "there can be no greater mortification for a host than if his servants offer sake that has not been appropriately warmed. Considering that even a minor mortification was considered a reason for hara-kiri (ritual suicide), most hosts made a point of testing the temperature of these beverages before they were brought to table. Five centuries later, one may happily report that the rules of etiquette are a bit less demanding. It is, however, still considered mandatory to serve sake with any Japanese dinner.

For the uninitiated, even though sake is generally thought of as rice wine, it is technically more correct to think of it as a beer. Today, with sushi, sashimi and other Japanese foods readily available, the demand for sake is increasing. Even though many Japanese restaurants in the USA and other parts of the Western World, offer a wide variety of sake, most stores offer only one or two brand names. I recently tasted two of those, Sho Chiko Bai and Kara Kuchi. Interestingly, both of those are produced in the United States under license from Japanese companies.

In addition to the semi- dry sake of Sho Chiko Bai, which is produced in California and has been available for nearly a decade, we now have dry and semi-dry versions of Sake Kara Kuchi, whose origins are in Colorado. Both are fine products, as good as all but the very best sakes made in Japan. In a blind tasting, I judged the semi-dry sakes of both companies to be equal in quality, the major difference being that the California version is a bit more sweet. The dry sake of Kara Kuchi, which I judge to be by far the best available in local stores, is so good that in addition to serving it with Japanese food, I will not hesitate to offer it as an aperitif or, as an interesting change, with Mediterranean fish dishes.

The traditional way to drink sake is to warm it to about 43 degrees Celsius (78 Farenheit). To accomplish this, the sake is poured into a tokkuri, a porcelain pitcher which is placed in a pan of boiling water. The sake is alowed to warm for about 5 minutes and is then served in small porcelain cups called sakazuki. Americans, in one of their inoffensive but odd perversions, have taken to serving sake chilled. The Japanese frown on this but are wise enough to realize that there is no explaining the sometimes inscutable habits of Occidentals, especially those who reside in the State of California.

Also Japanese

The wine that offered me the greatest surprise in recent weeks was Chora Ure, which is made in Japan from specially selected plums. Categorized as semi-dry, but with a level of sweetness that will offend no-one, this is a delightful fruit wine, acidic enough to make it refreshing, and with flavors that are clear, clean and for lack of a better term, delightful. Try on the rocks as an aperitif or lightly chilled with Far-Eastern food or as a dessert wine. A fruit wine well worth trying.

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© Daniel Rogov