The very generous Markus Baumgartner is one half of the couple who run the charming Japanese food, drink and gift shop Shinwazen near Zurich Hauptbahnhof. He and his wife Yuko are retired, but still active in the Slow Food movement and as ambassadors for Japanese food, drink and traditional crafts. They know the makers of most of the products in their shop personally and focus on stocking a small number of high-quality items including ceramics, knives and Hario glassware.
Markus kindly organised a sake tasting for me ahead of my WSET course, and a small group of sake enthusiasts gathered at the shop on the afternoon of 15 March 2017 to sample an incredible 14 sakes, working our way up from the lowest level of the tokutei meishō, honjōzō and junmai, to the daiginjo sakes at the very top.
- Kikusui karakuchi honjōzō
- Kikusui junmai
- Tensei tokubetsu junmai Ginbō
- Hojun tokubetsu junmai gohyakumangoku
- Hojun tokubetsu junmai
- Kikusui organic junmai ginjo
- Kotsuzumi Hana Fubuki junmai ginjo
- Hojun junmai ginjo Mii
- Hojun junmai ginjo
- Hojun junmai daiginjo
- Taka junmai daiginjo
- Rojō Hana Ari Tōka junmai daiginjo
- Rojō Hana Ari Kurobotan junmai daiginjo
- Rojō Hana Ari Aoi junmai daiginjo
The Rojō Hana Ari Kurobotan and Aoi junmai daiginjo were clear winners, with several bottles bought at the end of the tasting. However, the Hana Fubuki junmai ginjo had the most mixed reactions, with one person not liking it at all but unable to say why.
My personal favourites were the Rojō Hana Ari Kurobotan junmai daiginjo and the Kukusui organic junmai ginjo.
