Toko Shuzo "Ultraluxe" Fukurotsuri Junmai Daiginjo Saké

As a fan of everything Toko Shuzo puts out, I've been hoping to taste their Fukuro-tsuri for as long as I've known of it. Typically, once a saké has finished fermenting, the mash of rice, lees, and alcohol is heavily machine pressed several times to separate out the final product with as high a yield as possible. In this rare, delicate, inefficient, special method, bags of rice are suspended over the tank and only what drips down via gravity makes it to the bottle. In the glass, bosc pears, grapefruit peel, rose water, and ripe melon fruit jump out. As pretty as the nose is, the real star is incredible balance on the palate. With lovely acidity, every aspect of flavor and velvety texture is perfectly weighted and gets its time to shine. Drinking saké I often find that you have to choose between concentration and elegance, but not here.