およそ400万年前、伊賀盆地は琵琶湖の底であったと言われています。
そのため伊賀は、古琵琶湖層が隆起してできた、栄養素豊富な土壌です。
さらに伊賀は、四方を山に囲まれ、昼と夜の気温の差が大きいため、米の栄養が逃げにくく、高品質な酒米が育つ気候にあります。
この米づくりに最適な環境の中、酒米の定番ブランドである「山田錦」とともに、三重で開発された独自の酒米「神の穂」も生産されています。
大田酒造では、米づくり経験豊富な専業農家から酒米を仕入れています。
It is said that about 4 million years ago the Iga Basin was at the bottom of Lake Biwa. Later, these layers of soil began rising and became the fertile farmland now found in the Iga area.
These days, mountains surround this area on all four sides, resulting in relatively high temperature differences between day and night, leading to ideal conditions for the production of superior quality sake rice.
The Iga area grows both the popular sake rice “Yamada-Nishiki” and the local brand “Kami No Ho”, which is specialty rice developed to match the conditions found in Mie Prefecture.
Ota Sake Brewery Co., Ltd. exclusively purchases this ingredient from local farmers with many years of experience growing rice.
酒造りの名水の定義は、鉄分やマンガンが少なく、酵母によるアルコール発酵に有用なミネラル成分が適度に含まれていることです。
酒の製造工程で、酵母によるアルコール発酵が行われますが、この段階で水が含むミネラル成分が非常に重要です。
伊賀地域は、四方の山々から流れ出た清水が地下水となって、軟水の伏流水として豊富に溢れ、良水となっています。
良質のミネラル成分が含まれ、かつ軟水である伊賀の水は、地酒に適しているのです。大田酒造では、蔵内の井戸水を使い酒造りを行っています。
The composition of the minerals is important to create water that perfectly matches the sake brewing requirements.
By definition, water to produce sake should be low in iron and manganese while other minerals should support the yeast in fermenting alcohol.
The Iga area is completely surrounded by mountains and rain filters down from all directions to form an underground stream of soft water ideally suited for brewing sake, giving our products their unique character.
Ota Sake Brewery Co., Ltd. only uses well water of this high quality in every step of production.
酒の製造工程では、まず麹菌の働きで米のデンプンを糖化させた酒母（しゅぼ）とよばれる、お酒のモトに酵母を加え増殖させます。酵母には、香りの華やかさを引き出すものから、味の強さを決めるものなどあり、製品ごとに使い分けています。
大田酒造の酵母は、三重県が開発した香り高い吟醸用酵母MK-3や、味わい重視の純米酒に適したMK-1などを使用しています。
Malted rice (Koji) is added to the steamed sake rice to convert starch into sugar.
The resulting rice with the sugar contents is referred to as “Shubo”.
Then yeast is added to ferment the sugar into alcohol.
There are many kinds of yeast, with the ability to bring out different flavors and smells from the rice during the fermentation process, and all sake breweries have their special yeast cultures that are used depending on what type of sake is being produced.
The yeasts used at Ota Sake Brewery Co., Ltd. are known as MK-3 and MK-1.
MK-3 was developed in Mie Prefecture and brings out the fragrance especially in “Ginjoshu” sake varieties, while MK-1 is popular to bring out the deep flavors in “Junmaishu” sake varieties.
大田酒造では、できるかぎり伝統的な手造りの製法で酒造りを行っています。
杜氏は酒造りにおける最高責任者であり、温度管理や、蔵人全体を統括します。
酒造りに適した厳寒期。11月から翌年の4月まで蔵に泊り込み、醸造中は夜中も起きてもろみの温度チェックを行います。
大田酒造の杜氏は、全国最多の杜氏数を誇る酒造り盛んな岩手県の杜氏集団「南部杜氏」である藤井久光、71才。
50年の経験によって磨かれた技で、酒造りのコツ、心意気、蔵元、蔵人のチームワークで「半蔵」を醸します。
The products of Ota Sake Brewery Co., Ltd. are largely hand-made according to traditional production techniques.
The brew master, or “Toji”, is the most important person in the brewing process.
He controls the quality of the sake by deciding at what temperature the fermentation process takes place.
He also supervises all the other workers.
The most important period in the sake making process is from November to April, since the low winter temperatures benefit the sake quality.
During this time, the brew master is always present in the brewery, continuously checking the temperature of the raw sake, even during the night.
Many experienced brew masters are originally from the Tohoku area of Northern Honshu.
The brew master at Ota Sake Brewery Co., Ltd., Mr. Hisamitsu Fujii, 71, comes from Iwate Prefecture, also located in Tohoku, and is a member of the “Nambu Toji” Brew Master Guild.
His skills, combined with 50 years of sake making know-how at Ota Sake Brewery Co., Ltd., where management and staff is working together as a team with the determination to only produce the highest quality.
酒の分類についてご存知でしょうか。日本酒は、精米歩合 、麹歩合、アルコール添加量などの製法によって区分されます。また、純米酒・本醸造酒・吟醸酒といった区分と、精米歩合で、名称が付けられます。精米歩合は、白米のその玄米に対する重量の割合を言います。精米歩合60％と言うときは、玄米の表層部を40％削りとっているのです。
Do you know the classifications of Japanese Sake?
Japanese Sake is classified according the remaining percentage of the rice grain after polishing, the amount of malted rice used, and the amount of alcohol added.
The three classifications of Japanese Sake, Junmaishu, Honjozoshu and Ginjoshu, are determined by the production method and the remaining percentage of the rice grain.
The percentage given on sake labels indicates how much of the rice grain remained after being polished.
For example, if it shows “60%”, this means 40% of the rice grain has been polished away from the surface.