Colors Earth Rikuu 132
⏳ Drinking Window
2021 - 2022
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Fresh oysters, grilled sea bass, creamy goat cheese
✨ Technical Specifications
Aramasa's 'Colors' series is a vivid exploration of Akita's agricultural heritage, with the 'Earth' (Rikuu 132) expression serving as a liquid monument to Japanese history. Brewed using Rikuu 132, an heirloom rice variety created in 1921 as Japan's first successful pedigree hybrid, this sake carries a profound legacy. The variety was famously championed by the beloved poet and agriculturalist Kenji Miyazawa, who distributed its seeds to impoverished farmers in the Tohoku region to help them survive devastating cold spells. True to Aramasa's uncompromising philosophy, this sake is crafted using the traditional Kimoto starter method, fermented in cedar casks (Kioke), and driven by the historic Kyokai No. 6 yeast. The result is an avant-garde creation that drinks like a complex, high-acid white wine, offering a striking tension between pristine minerality, rustic cedar undertones, and a vibrant, citrus-led acidity.
🍾 About the Producer
Established in 1852 by Uhei Sato in Akita Prefecture, Aramasa Shuzo stands as one of Japan's most revolutionary and revered artisanal producers. The brewery earned historic distinction in 1930 when its in-house culture was isolated as Kyokai No. 6, the oldest surviving yeast strain in active distribution. Under eighth-generation kuramoto Yusuke Sato, who took over in the late 2000s, Aramasa embarked on an uncompromising renaissance. Sato committed strictly to pure Junmai brewing, utilizing exclusively local Akita-grown rice cultivated without chemical pesticides, including over 30 hectares farmed in the Uyashinai district. Reviving traditional Edo-period techniques, all fermentations rely purely on indigenous lactic bacteria via the kimoto method and take place entirely in wooden cedar vats (kioke). Fermented using only pristine soft local mountain water and Kyokai No. 6, Aramasa's sakes—such as the iconic unpasteurized No. 6 series, the terroir-driven Colors collection, and the experimental Private Lab bottlings like Amaneko—are globally benchmarked for their electrifying acidity, pristine structural tension, and vinous elegance.
🍇 Grapes
Rikuu 132 Rice
🍷 ABV
13%