2017.03.13

Matsunami Sake Brewery, located in Noto Peninsula, full of ancient landscapes

At Noto Peninsula, the landscape is still as it was in Japan’s ancient times. Freshly caught seafood and freshly harvested foods of the mountains characterize the area, along with the florid and brilliant Kiriko Festivals taking place from spring to fall across the region.
Matsunami Sake Brewery has been producing sake in Matsunami in Noto Town at the apex of Noto Peninsula, ever since the first year of the Meiji Era (1868). Our most distinguished line, Ooe Mountain, was named after the Ooe Mountain in Kyoto by an ancestor who wished for the sake to be had together with a demon from Japanese mythology. Even now, almost 150 years from the brewery’s founding, we use traditional tools with great care and handcraft our production in intensely cold temperatures.

The rice we utilize are ideally suited to the sake brewing process: “Gohyakumangoku” and “Ishikawamon” from Ishikawa Prefecture, and “Yamadanishiki” from Hyogo Prefecture. The soft water we use is from the well water of our granary, preserved and protected for over 100 years.
The rice is steamed via a traditional steaming basket on top of a Japanese kettle pot, and when it is carried it is parceled in linen and literally borne on the shoulders of our brewers. We avoid the use of heavy machinery, and almost the entire process is done by hand.
The fermenting mash is wrung using a wooden tool called a “fu-ne.” The sake lees left over in the fu-ne are retrieved by hand piece by piece using a sack.

Noto has traditionally been an area of numerous sake brewers and workers. Therefore, there has been a long tradition of diligent application to producing nationally renowned, high-quality sake, and this is the case for all 11 sake breweries in Okunoto, the northernmost area of Noto Peninsula.
Noto Town, in which the Matsunami Sake Brewery is located, is known as the location of origin of sake brewers in Noto Peninsula. It is a place full of nature and beautiful air, and its mountain fruits and seafood offer tastes and experiences that can’t be found in cities. We are happy that our sake has always been gracefully brewed in a place like this. If you were to visit Noto Peninsula and take in its food and scenery, we would love for you to also relish in the taste of our Ooe Mountain sake.