Did you know that Japanese rice wine (sake) is manufactured in every prefecture of Japan and that local sake (Jizake) have characteristics specific to their region? This interview is dedicated to all international fans of sake who have been restricted from visiting Japan due to the coronavirus pandemic. Striving to provide you with as much content on sake as possible, we report unabridged information on the charms and locality of sake breweries.
We continuously deliver happiness from sake breweries to the world!

GI Tone Numata is comprised of four breweries in the Tone Numata region of Gunma Prefecture (Otone Shuzo (Numata), Nagai Honke (Numata), Nagai Shuzo (Kawaba), and Tsuchida Shuzo (Kawaba)), receiving designation in 2021 as the 6th GI (geographic indication) in Japan, registered as seishu.
GI Tone Numata is limited to sake that takes advantage of the local water and climate like other GIs, while also limiting the types of rice that can be used to “Yuki Hotaka,”
“Gohyakumangoku,” and “Koshihikari,” and even limiting the areas where the rice is grown. Furthermore, only local yeasts (Gunma KAZE yeast, Gunma G2 yeast, yeasts from breweries, etc.) are allowed to be used, establishing extremely strict standards.

———— I asked Mr. Abe about the background behind setting such stringent standards.

Sake GIs are a national system which protects specialty products closely tied to the local climate and culture, and as a geographic certification, it is similar to France’s AOC and Italy’s DOC. Perhaps we can reproduce the environment which protects and fosters brands in France and Italy here in Japan as well. We considered whether we could create similar standards for sake as there are for wine in order to help sake win international acceptance.
Based on this thinking, when we received our GI designation, we established our own strict standards for making sake produced here in the Tone Numata region that meets requirements for the locality, fields, rice quality, and water quality, etc., in order to preserve the originality that can only be created in this place, and grow it into world-class local brand.
We take pride not only in producing sake that takes advantage of the local water and climate like other GIs, but also in creating the top-class standards in Japan, which are unlike anything else in sake, and even rival the strict standards for wine in Europe.

The four breweries of GI Tone Numata have had been closely associated since the Meiji period. In the Tone Numata region, there have been strong horizontal relationships for more than 100 years, with surviving records of correspondence on how to make the best sake, and that still goes on today. Now that we have earned our GI, let’s see the world, and create a legacy for the next generation! I believe the strength of these four breweries will be an asset to us as we take on the world.