Sake, Oregon Style
From Relationships in the City, June 2007 Sushi Maru…or Sake Maru? A Wine List Sure to Please!
By Jennifer Large Seagrave, Wine and Cheese Reviewer
When Michael Aguilar Okumura opened Sushi Maru after a decade and a half of running restaurants for other people, he decided to include a full menu of wines, beers and premium sake. What a great decision! While Wendy, Relationships in the City’s food editor, and I watched sushi chef Jimmy prepare our lunch last week, Molly brought around a flight of Momokawa Oregon sake for us to taste.
We had five Momokawa premium rice wines and a Gekkeikan hot sake. We tasted them before our food came. My favorite was the Silver, a crisp, dry sake with clean floral notes. This was the lightest bodied of the premium rice wines we tried. Whereas non-premium grade sakes (futsu) are made with grains of rice that are milled to 75% or less of the whole grain, the rice used in premium sake, or ginjo, is milled to just 60% or less. This leaves mainly the rich, starchy centers, and the cleanest, smoothest flavor in the final product.
We also tasted the Diamond and Ruby Momokawa, which were fuller and richer. The Diamond is off dry and the Ruby is slightly sweet. Residual sugar in rice wine gives it a fuller mouth feel and richer flavor, so the Diamond and Ruby were big wines, with mushroom, herbal and straw flavors. Their layered finishes were wonderful—a treat for fans of Australian reds and white Burgundy. With food, the sweeter sakes soften a little and after a few blistered green beans, the Diamond became my new favorite. The hot sake, by Gekkeikan (Japan) had a good balance and backbone, much better than many tarter versions I’ve tried.
Finally, I tried the Momokawa Pearl. A beautiful, shimmering white color, the unfiltered sweet sake was soft and smooth with overtones of melon and apple. At 18% alcohol (where the others were 14.8%), the Pearl is no chic drink. It may be soft and sweet, but it packs a punch with about the same alcohol content as a ruby port. With the Double Dank Lobster Bake, a special similar to the daily Zen Bake made with shrimp, the Pearl was a velvety, sweet blanket covering our tongues, mixing with the teriyaki and soy glaze on rich and crunchy lobster to absolute perfection. It was the perfect end to a wonderful meal.
Maru Sushi’s wine list doesn’t only include sakes. It provides a range of California Chardonnay, an Oregon Pinot Gris, and Bonney Doon Reisling. With California reds, four Japanese sakes and eight beers, the list is sure to please a wide range of tastes—and the food is spectacular. I went home very happy about my drive up to Park City!
By Jennifer Large Seagrave, Wine and Cheese Reviewer
When Michael Aguilar Okumura opened Sushi Maru after a decade and a half of running restaurants for other people, he decided to include a full menu of wines, beers and premium sake. What a great decision! While Wendy, Relationships in the City’s food editor, and I watched sushi chef Jimmy prepare our lunch last week, Molly brought around a flight of Momokawa Oregon sake for us to taste.
We had five Momokawa premium rice wines and a Gekkeikan hot sake. We tasted them before our food came. My favorite was the Silver, a crisp, dry sake with clean floral notes. This was the lightest bodied of the premium rice wines we tried. Whereas non-premium grade sakes (futsu) are made with grains of rice that are milled to 75% or less of the whole grain, the rice used in premium sake, or ginjo, is milled to just 60% or less. This leaves mainly the rich, starchy centers, and the cleanest, smoothest flavor in the final product.
We also tasted the Diamond and Ruby Momokawa, which were fuller and richer. The Diamond is off dry and the Ruby is slightly sweet. Residual sugar in rice wine gives it a fuller mouth feel and richer flavor, so the Diamond and Ruby were big wines, with mushroom, herbal and straw flavors. Their layered finishes were wonderful—a treat for fans of Australian reds and white Burgundy. With food, the sweeter sakes soften a little and after a few blistered green beans, the Diamond became my new favorite. The hot sake, by Gekkeikan (Japan) had a good balance and backbone, much better than many tarter versions I’ve tried.
Finally, I tried the Momokawa Pearl. A beautiful, shimmering white color, the unfiltered sweet sake was soft and smooth with overtones of melon and apple. At 18% alcohol (where the others were 14.8%), the Pearl is no chic drink. It may be soft and sweet, but it packs a punch with about the same alcohol content as a ruby port. With the Double Dank Lobster Bake, a special similar to the daily Zen Bake made with shrimp, the Pearl was a velvety, sweet blanket covering our tongues, mixing with the teriyaki and soy glaze on rich and crunchy lobster to absolute perfection. It was the perfect end to a wonderful meal.
Maru Sushi’s wine list doesn’t only include sakes. It provides a range of California Chardonnay, an Oregon Pinot Gris, and Bonney Doon Reisling. With California reds, four Japanese sakes and eight beers, the list is sure to please a wide range of tastes—and the food is spectacular. I went home very happy about my drive up to Park City!
Sushi Maru, 1776 Park AvePark City, UT 84060(435) 615-8862
posted by Jennifer Large Seagrave at 10:22 PM
1 Comments:
Completely agree on the pearl--I haven't tried Momokawa's other bottles yet, but the pearl makes me think this Oregonian sake maker is worth trying more of! I quoted your thoughts on my blog today.
Post a Comment
<< Home