This Innovative Sake Is Produced in a Striking Kengo Kuma–Designed Kura
Dom Pérignon’s former chef de cave Richard Geoffroy breaks away from his Champagne past with his radical-yet-balanced Iwa sake
The ancient craft of fermenting rice to create sake has been an intrinsic part of Japanese culture for around 2,500 years, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for innovation. Although technology introduced a few advancements in the past decades, the brewing process has remained relatively unchanged—until now.
Iwa 5, a new sake from acclaimed Champagne maker Richard Geoffroy, uses assemblage, the vinification practice of blending grape varieties to create harmony, to produce its unique flavor. While common in the winemaking world, where Geoffroy served as chef de cave of Dom Pérignon for 28 years, the concept is completely foreign to the sake process. “I believe in the power of collaborative tensions,” he shares. “An evolution can only come from an outsider, but the whole project is out of love for Japan.”
The sake’s name is derived from Shiraiwa, which is the small village near Toyama, Japan, where it is made. Nestled in the Japanese Alps, the region receives one of the world’s highest amounts of snowfall per year. Given that water is the second-most predominant ingredient in sake, the snow’s soft-water quality accounts for the overall purity of the flavor.
Geoffroy works with Masato Yabuta, a toji, or master sake brewer, to create Iwa 5 by using three types of rice and five strains of yeast. From there, he blends the sake to achieve the balance he’s looking for, with each year expressing new characteristics and nuances. For example, Assemblage 3, his third and latest offering, is marked by an intriguing layering of bright and vegetal notes along with floral ones—ranging from green mango to coriander seed plus hyacinth, anise, and cucumber—and a characteristic Geoffroy describes as “rich and intense yet weightless.”
Since such an artfully composed beverage deserves an equally compelling brewing facility, Geoffroy looked to legendary Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. Referencing the traditional architecture of the region, Kuma devised a structure with a low-slung metal roof that dips almost to the ground and floor-to-ceiling glass windows that seamlessly connect the space to nature. This, Kuma’s first sake kura, or brewery, acts as a full experiential location, housing the production facility, reception areas, dining, and two guest rooms for visitors all in one place. And Kuma wasn’t the only titan of design involved; Geoffroy also tapped Marc Newson to conceive the bottle, which pays homage to classic sake vessels with its shape and use of calligraphy.
Late last year, at a tasting dinner in Tribeca at the Michelin two-star Korean restaurant Jungsik, Geoffroy deftly conveyed both the poetic and scientific sensibility he brings to his sake. By pairing each course with one of the three Assemblages served at differing temperatures, he demonstrated the drink’s expressive range. “Sake offers more options in the production and more options in the drinking, which makes it so playful,” Geoffroy says. “I can combine so many vintages, so much food, so many temperatures, so much glassware.”
And by purposefully pouring Dom Pérignon to welcome each guest at the dinner, he further signaled that sake could not only be paired with cuisines outside of Japan but can also stand up to both the luxury and dexterity of other premium quaffs. “It’s so easy to get lost in sake, because there are hundreds, even thousands of options,” remarks Geoffroy. However, one taste of Iwa 5 proves he’s actually found something even more elusive
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2023 Summer Issue under the headline “Found in Translation.” Subscribe to the magazine..