Texas LOVES GINJO SAKE!

So you flip open your Wine Spectator this month to see a large chunk of content devoted to Sake - well, Texas - we've caught on in the Lone Star State - Sake sales are off the charts this year!

How exciting to be representing such a high-profile portfolio of artisan sake from Japan - check them all out after you read the following excerpt from the Wine Spectator this month...Cheers - Ali



Seduced by Sake

Americans are learning to embrace Japan's noble beverage

By Mitch Frank
From Wine Spectator magazine, April 30, 2007 issue

Beau Timken calls it the "eye-opening moment." As the owner of True Sake, a San Francisco store that carries nothing but the Japanese beverage, Timken knows that an important part of his job is educating customers who have never tried premium sake before. "People are stunned, and they come back after the first bottle," says Timken, who carries 200 labels. "Their eyes are opened to how incredible this stuff is."

Sake is no longer just a novelty in America, the stuff in the exotic bottles behind the sushi bar, or even worse, that cheap, hot firewater in the wooden cups. Wine lovers are realizing that Japan's traditional rice beverage is as nuanced and subtle as wine, and foodies are waking up to how useful it is to have in their arsenal for pairing with cuisine. The common theme is that sake is nothing to be scared of—it's a drink to sip, savor and study. "People say sake is a fad," says Timken. "If so, it's a 1,000-year-old fad. It's been around, but we're just starting to grab onto it."

The embrace, while gradual, has been an enthusiastic one. The United States imported almost $26 million worth of sake from Japan last year, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. That's 4.3 million liters, a 14 percent increase from 2005, and a 170 percent increase from a decade ago. Sake sections are sprouting up on restaurant wine lists and bar menus, and not all of those restaurants serve Asian cuisine. You can choose from multiple sakes at both of Thomas Keller's top spots, the French Laundry and Per Se. At New York's Chanterelle, sommelier Roger Dagorn regularly includes sake among the wines in the restaurant's tasting menus...(more)

Look for the following Sake highlighted in the article - all bottles are available in Texas...look for the Vine Connections Logo on the back of the bottle!

Fukucho Moon On The Water

Kanbara Bride Of The Fox

Mantensei Star Filled Sky

Rihaku Dreamy Clouds Nigori