Dreamsake Daiginjo No 1

Hyōgo is to sake roughly what Champagne is to sparkling wine — the benchmark everyone else is measured against. Dreamsake Daiginjo No.1 comes from there, and it leans on the two things that made the region famous. Yamada Nishiki rice, still the finest sake rice grown. And Miyamizu, the mineral-rich water drawn from beneath Mount Rokko that has been driving the Nada breweries since the 1840s.

The rice is polished back to 50%. Half of every grain milled away to reach the starchy heart, leaving behind the proteins and fats that make cheaper sake taste coarse and heavy. That is the daiginjo threshold, and it is slow, expensive work. Worth knowing too: this is a daiginjo rather than a junmai daiginjo, so a small measure of distilled alcohol goes in at the end of the ferment. Done clumsily that thins a sake out. Done properly, as here, it lifts the delicate aromatics out of the mash and carries them into the glass.

Pour it cold and you get pear and white peach first, then honeydew melon, a soft floral note, and a twist of grapefruit zest right at the edge. The texture is what stays with you — genuinely silken, almost weightless, no heat anywhere. It finishes clean and disappears quickly, which is exactly the intention. Around 15.5% ABV.

If you have only ever had warm sake from a carafe in a high-street restaurant, this is the bottle that rewrites that idea completely.

How to Serve

Well chilled, 8–10°C, and never warmed — heat destroys everything delicate about a daiginjo. Use a white wine glass rather than a tiny ceramic cup. You want the aromatics to have somewhere to go. Drink it within a couple of days of opening.

Where to Drink It

The oyster bar at J Sheekey, where chilled daiginjo alongside natives is one of the great under-ordered pairings in London. Scott's in Mayfair for the same idea with more ceremony. Dandy on Maltby Street if you would rather drink somewhere that doesn't mind you asking questions.

Food Pairings

Oysters. Sake carries none of the iron that makes many white wines turn metallic against them, so the pairing is cleaner than almost anything you could open instead. Beyond that, try it with a plate of sea bass crudo and good olive oil.