Word: wined
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Previously dealing only in wine and spirits, many American importers are now self-proclaimed enthusiasts cum evangelists who are broadening their palates and expertise to include premium sake. Refrigerated containers, improved shipping logistics and an increasing number of importers forging business relationships with eager Japanese microbrewers from Hokkaido to Kyushu are turning the U.S. into what many have long predicted: sake's next big market. Distributors are expanding their portfolios to include a fourth beverage just for the divine drink, as jisake (premium sake) finds its way into more beverage programs across cuisines and states. There are roughly 600 registered...
...slice it, those are big numbers," says Ed Lehrman of Vine Connections, an importer of Argentine wine and Japanese sake based in Sausalito, Calif. "Sake is becoming more of a requirement as part of a complete program for distributors and major importers." Lehrman began as a wine connoisseur and marketer, tasting about 3,000 wines a year, before starting Vine Connections with wine partner Nick Ramkowsky and importing what has become a 12-brand sake portfolio, which accounts for about 30% of the company's sales. Lehrman says that sake's lack of tannin structure and its low acidity compared...
...Japanese producers. Sales doubled in 2006 from 2005, and Sidel expects to break even this year with revenue of a little more than $1 million. "Sake is transitioning from the image of being cheap, hot and in a little carafe that gets you hammered to one of a fine wine with a lot of complexity, flavor and craftsmanship," he says...
...restaurants revamp their sake lists for increasingly refined palates, it is clear that demand for premium sake goes well beyond Asian food. "Sake has the ability to be molded to what you want--to adapt to the flavor of the dish," says Tanguay. "You can't do that with wine." Haute-cuisine restaurants--from New York's Per Se to Chicago's Charlie Trotter's to Rubicon in San Francisco--are increasingly looking to sake pairings to satiate--and educate--diners. This fall, in the custard-colored dining room of Chanterelle, an icon of French cuisine in Manhattan, the restaurant...
...much work," he says. "My basic rule with anything that has to do with sake is that it takes 2 1?2 times as much effort because the educational element is unknown." Pearce is very much a purist: "You can't go into sake with a wine background and understand it. You have to understand it on its own." But, he adds, "it's exactly like wine, in that people will turn on to better ones." That should keep importers--and the Shinto gods--happy for years to come...