EU is the new sake rice terroir?

You may be familiar with the name Yanmar – often glimpsed on tractors and other agricultural machinery. But I wasn’t expecting the name to turn up on a press release about a new variety of sake rice… developed in Italy to be grown in Italy.

Yanmar R&D Europe, based in Florence, Italy, teamed up with the Italian Rice Experiment Station (IRES), in Nibbiola to the west of Milan, for their Sake Rice Project. It forms part of Yanmar’s focus on sustainability, specifically allowing overseas sake brewers to brew with suitable local rice instead of importing sake rice with the associated environmental costs.

Realising that European sake breweries had no options for sake rice except for importing, Yanmar first engaged IRES as an expert partner that understood Italian climate and soil and was capable of producing a new rice variety to be grown locally. They cited two major hurdles during development: the variety of farming traditions in Europe, which can vary significantly by farmer and result in decreased yield in the long term, and coping with the lack of specialist polishing machinery.

Qualities prioritised during development were large grain size, low protein content and large shinpaku, as well as resistance to cracking and slight stickiness. The rice has been tested in European polishing machines at polishing rates up to 80%. A number of hybridised varieties were produced but only two both exhibited the desired characteristics and grew well in European soil and climate conditions.

The newly developed EuSake 01 variety, growing at the Italian Rice Experiment Station (IRES) in Italy. (Photo (c) IRES)

The two new European sake rice varieties were named EuSake 01 and EuSake 02. The catalogue on the IRES site describes 01 as having a long seeding-to-ripening cycle (145 days), short height (81 cm in total), good productivity and good resistance to fungal disease/neck blast. 02 is taller (104 cm in total), grows faster (130 days), has medium productivity and is vulnerable to neck blast. IRES will also grow EuSake (variety not clear) again in the 2024 season.

The new varieties were put to the test by Gregoire Boeuf of French sake brewery Larmes du Levant. The press release uses the rather odd phrasing “the quality of sake made… is not compromised when using European rice instead of Japanese” and notes the appeal of using local/European ingredients and the potential for appealing to customers, but nothing more concrete. However, Yanmar confirmed that Gregoire was excited to use locally produced sake rice not only because of the cost of importing but also the time delay. It’s also much easier to communicate with farmers in Italy than ones in Japan.

(mynewsdesk.com 11 Mar 2024, English. Italian Rice Experiment Station IRES 4 Dec 2023, Italian. Private correspondence.)

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Notes
I have no idea if the practicalities of growing rice mean that European breweries will start using EuSake 01 and EuSake 02, or if it will remain as a fascinating experiment. It was a bit odd that there was no real comment on the quality or characteristics of the sake it produced.

I know the other big obstacle to European sake breweries sourcing rice in Europe is the lack of polishing/milling facilities – the USA has Cypress Creek Milling operated by Isbell Farms, who grow sake rice in Arkansas (including not only Yamada Nishiki and Gohyakumangoku but also Omachi and Wataribune). So if the result is a sake rice suited to polishing to just 80%, that could really change things. 

And I hadn’t factored in the time for shipping – I know this is a particular issue at the moment with several EU importers saying they are running low due to disruption of shipping through the Suez Canal, so all the more reason to try to source locally.

Polished EuSake 02. (Photo (c) IRES)