WBW72- Cherry Blossoms & Earthquakes

In any given March, most thoughts of Japan popping into the minds of Vancouverites relate to cherry blossoms. Historically, the Japanese have had a wonderful influence in our city by the sea with the introduction of flowering cherry trees. Our Springs are dictated, to a large expense, by the arrival of these pretty pink flowers throughout the city.

Although the blossoms have arrived on schedule, almost all thoughts of Japan in Vancouver this Spring - like in the rest of the world - are related to the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit the Japanese coast and all the ongoing catastrophic events and stories that have followed.

I would never have foreseen working the Japanese tragedy into this blog; however, I see that a special request has been made by the gang at Wine Blogging Wednesday. Richard Auffrey at The Passionate Foodie is coordinating our next adventure and has charged us with Wine Blogging Wednesday 72 - Helping Japan. To be honest, I'm still rather behind in my own wine postings and have only just caught up to WBW70. I was thinking I might need to take a break from this next instalment before folks think I'm posting nothing but Wine Blogging Wednesday's. Guess April's topic put the kaibosh on that. The lucky thing for me was that Boo and I just happened to have enjoyed a Japanese meal the other night; so I had a ready-made posting.

Now, be forewarned, I know diddley squat about Sake - other than having enjoyed my fair share of it over the years with sushi. So, I won't pretend to go into any details about this particular style or any specifics about what might make this brand particular. I wouldn't know. I'm simply taking a few notes from the company's website and from a quick Google search. Indeed, "Sake" doesn't even show up in The Oxford Companion to Wine. The Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival (which coincidentally happens this week) always includes a couple producers, however. So, I'll go with them, count it as a "wine" and give the bottle a number on The List. (Well, at least I will when I catch up with my other postings.)

761. N.V. Momokawa Organic Ginjo Junmai Sake (* Japan - OOOOPS! NOT Japan - it's Oregon, OW! See Note at bottom of post.)

The origins of rice wine aren't clear; however, there has been literary reference of the drink for centuries in Japan. In many ways its production is more similar to the brewing of beer than it is to the making of wine. With wine, alcohol is produced by the fermentation of the natural sugars in the grape juice. With Sake and beer, however, the sugars to be converted into alcohol must first be generated by the conversion of starches - whether that starch be rice or grains. That being said, the making of Sake differs from beer in that the conversion of rice starches into sugar and sugar into alcohol happens in one single step instead of two separate procedures.

Although Sake has been traditionally Japanese, the production of Sake has actually been declining in Japan since the 1970's - just as production in other global areas (including one producer in Vancouver) has been growing and as production methods have been steadily improving.

The Momokawa is indicative of some forward thinking in that the production of this Sake is certified organic all the way from the rice paddies through the brewing process - moving the product along with the green revolution, just as many wines are currently being branded as organic and biodynamic.

Regulars to this blog know that I don't dwell on tasting notes of the wines that we drink. So, I'm certainly not going to try that with the this Sake. I know that there are varying styles of Sake now available; however, suffice it to say that it seemed pretty much like most of the Sake I've knocked down in the past. There was enough of a fruitiness and slight sweetness that I had no problem finishing off my little bottle. I am glad, however, that I limited it to one bottle because, at 14.5% alcohol, she packs a bit of a punch.

Boo, on the other hand, just doesn't care for Sake. Even in restaurants, he'll always order some alternative beverage. I offered him a glass and, not surprisingly, he declined. I'd rather expected that, so I pulled out another little Japanese treat that I know he's enjoyed in the past - Shochu.

Tanaka Moonlight Premium Shochu

Seen by many as a cross between Sake and Vodka, Shochu also has a long history in Japan. Being a distilled alcohol, I'd never expected or planned to give this bottle a number and add it to The List. But, I do have a slight "problem" with this bottle - and this being a posting on Japan - in that, despite the brand name "Tanaka," this Shochu is distilled in Vietnam. I hadn't noticed the tiny print on the back label - until I took a look at it for this blog entry. I'd just assumed, back in the store, that it was Japanese.

Oh well, the drink is still native to Japan and promotional materials for the product online refer to it as a "Japanese-style" drink. Typically distilled from barley, sweet potato or rice, the Moonlight uses a grain base and has a clean, fragrant taste that has a mild hint of sweetness. Served on the rocks, it's a different take on a vodka martini. The only other time we'd tried it, it was served neat in a sushi restaurant in NYC. I believe that bottle was distilled from sweet potato because it had that distinct flavour and prompted me to look for an elusive bottle back home here.

Once seen as the Japanese equivalent of moonshine, Shochu has seen a big boost in popularity in the last decade - both in Japan and abroad - and it has even led to a shortage of sweet potatoes. Apparently, the drink has become trendy among young, hip Japanese drinkers, particularly women, as it is seen as stronger than wine or beer but weaker than spirits. Its resurgence in popularity is sometimes seen as stemming from a claim by Japan's oldest living man, allegedly 120 years of age at the time, whereby he proclaimed the healthy benefits of Shochu and revealed that he made it a part of his daily dietary regime.

We won't be drinking either Shochu or Sake on such a regular basis; however, there's little doubt that they pair up nicely with Japanese inspired cuisine.

As a final request to this month's WBW bloggers, Richard has requested that we add a link to the Canadian Red Cross (or American Red Cross as the case may be) as an easy prompt for all of our readers to make a donation - large or small - to help out with the humanitarian aid efforts continuing in Japan. If every one of us donates even the costs of one bottle of wine - or Sake - to the cause, it's bound to make some difference.

My thanks to everyone participating in WBW72's aid drive and to The Passionate Foodie for hosting this month's theme. Here's hoping that next year's cherry blossoms will find Japan in much safer, happier and healthier state of being.

* Editor's Note - After I'd finished my entry for WBW72, this month's host, Richard Auffrey, wrote me back and politely let me know that this Sake is made in Oregon. Sure enough, when I actually looked at the bottle, my face went a brighter shade of pink/red than the cherry blossoms. Such embarrassment - an American Sake and a Vietnamese Shochu. I suppose I am going to have to read all labels like I read wine labels. I shall now retreat to atone for my shame and contemplate hari kiri.

Korean Gold Begets Bek Se Ju

So Skeletor arrived early as planned and we managed to on the road by 10. Seeing how the crowds were yesterday, we figured they would keep on building - especially since there was a forecast of possible sun later in the day. We were bang on with the estimation of the crowds and the weatherman hit a homerun with a sunny afternoon.

We were planning to let Skeletor choose our course of action for the day but it was pretty clear from the start that line-ups were going to be de rigeur. We'd heard by word of mouth that the Canadian Mint Pavilion was a great one to hit. They feature actual medals for both the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games on display. We arrived fairly early but the Mint was closed for a reception until 2.00 pm. The thought of waiting around for three and a half hours was a non-starter.

Little did we know that there wasn't going to be a single site in town that didn't have a line-up. We decided to give the Four Host Nations Pavilion a shot and got into line. We didn't realize it at first but, for today, they were presenting musical shows inside and they only admitted one group of folks an hour. After waiting close to an hour, they let the next show in and we missed the cut off point by about 30 people. Skeletor was being really good about the wait and said that we might as well sit it out and wait for the next show. There was a different show every hour and our show was a presentation of Metis step dancing with plenty of participation requested from the guests. Not what we'd expected but great fun with all the fiddle music accompanying the show.

There wasn't going to be time for another line-up like that one but we tried the Mint again and we were told that it was easily going to be three hours to get. We told Skeletor that it'd be easier if she just took up a sport and won one herself.

The remainder of the afternoon involved walking around the downtown core people-watching and checking out a couple of the smaller displays that didn't have line-ups. The dressing up of buildings was also great to see.

If there was any question before, it was clear that the lack of interest in the Games, that had been headlining the news in the previous weeks, was clearly at an end now.

There wasn't exactly an opportunity to sip back on a bottle for The List during the day - particularly with Skeletor in tow. But, after hours of being on our feet, we made our way home. Skeletor was in charge of choosing what was for dinner and she opted for sushi (although, for her, sushi really only means California Roll).

Seeing as how South Korea and the US had won the last two gold medals on opening day, I decided that we could stretch our horizons on The List and go with a Korean rice wine.

364. Kook Soon Dang Bek Se Ju (South Korea)

Good thing that I'd done a bit of a sweep at one of the Signature government liquor stores earlier to try and find wines from some of the not-so-commonly-found wine countries that had good chances at winning medals at the Games. I'd never heard of Bek Se Ju before. It's a rice-based, fermented alcoholic beverage that is flavoured with a variety of a dozen herbs - most prominently ginseng, but also ginger and yarrow, among other more esoteric Korean herbs (like wolfberry and "five-leaved aralia").

The name translates to "hundred year wine." Apparently, that's not the age of the wine but, rather, an allusion to the story that the combination of herbs will give you long life. The addition of herbs to Korean wine is a long-standing tradition - over 600 years; however, Bek Se Ju isn't necessarily seen as being as popular as beer or soju (similar to vodka) nowadays. Kook Soon Dang is apparently a big brand in Korea, however, as this brand was the official Korean wine for the FIFA World Cup that was co-hosted by Korea and Japan in 2002.

In Korea, it's often matched with spicy foods, but I figured that, seeing it's a rice wine, it should be similar to sake and might go with the sushi. Considering the fact that I don't think I've ever cooked a Korean dinner in my life, the odds are pretty good that, I wouldn't be whipping up any Korean food while the Olympics were on and, seeing that Japan hadn't won any Gold yet, best I jump at the opportunity as presented.

Its mellow taste indeed resembles sake but there's a definite twist to the flavour. Internet searches primarily refer to the taste of ginseng - but I'm afraid I don't have the slightest idea of what ginseng tastes like. Let's say that it's an interesting bottle to discover on this Odyssey, but I likely won't keep a steady supply of it in our wine cellar.