Daiginjo: Tokkyu set

We’ve moved through the spectrum from earthy and savoury futsushu, honjozo and junmai, through the adaptable and food-friendly ginjo, and at the other end we find the most ethereal and delicate class, daiginjo.

Daiginjo can be made with no more than 50% of the rice grain. Polishing to this degree removes most of the protein, and therefore takes away more of the umami. So the flavour profile is different again.

Less umami means the sake yeast can shine, and daiginjo often have a sweet base topped off with fruity and even floral notes. Many are bursting with aroma, almost experienced more by smell than taste.

You may have noticed there is daiginjo and junmai daiginjo. (And ginjo and junmai ginjo.) What’s the difference?

In both cases the sake must be made with no more than 50% of the rice grain (60% for ginjo), which gives it its characteristic flavour profile: less umami, more fruity and floral.

Sake brewing traditionally adds a small amount of high-strength alcohol at the end of brewing to stabilise the sake and extract flavour and aroma components from the remaining rice solids. Except in junmai sake, which is generally a little heavier, more rounded and less aromatic than its non-junmai counterpart, although the difference can be hard to spot. Try some junmai and non-junmai and see if you prefer one, or like both!

As daiginjo are more delicate than the other classes – and the smaller the number the more delicate you can expect them to be – they’re not quite as easy to pair with food. But they’re fantastic on their own, enjoyed as an aperitif, accompanying delicately flavoured dishes, or as a gift to wow people who only know anonymous futsushu or other umami-heavy classes.

(They might not even believe you when you tell them it’s sake.)

The Tokkyu Set of four selected daiginjo is a great way to see what this class has to offer, or you can explore this end of spectrum even further by tasting your way through some very small numbers: Dassai 45, Dassai 39 and even Dassai 23, made with less than a quarter of the rice grain.