Cave D’Occi’s FROM SCRATCH2020

Their Fall Is Our Gain

Ah, autumn has arrived, a time when a person’s thoughts turn to…. What? What did you say? Olympic debt and ragweed pollen? No, those are not the answers we are looking for here. It should be obvious that the correct response is “falling objects.” The English word fall when used to describe the present season is closely linked to this something-keeps-falling-on-my-head period, be it wafting matter like leaves or a plummeting bomblet like the odious gingko nut or the ubiquitous apple. Wiktionary succinctly lays it all out as follows: “[“Fall” in the] [sense] of “autumn” is attested by the 1660s in England as a shortening of Middle English fall of the leaf….”

As you probably suspect by now the beverage under review in this entry is cider, specifically what some refer to as “hard cider.” We at drinkingjapan.org have long taken this alcoholic beverage quite seriously and firmly believe that it deserves greater exposure and more respect. In the coming months we expect to be providing our readers with more information on Japan’s hard ciders. For now, suffice it to say that Japan produces various varieties of apples of high quality and has the potential to become a leading producer of fine cider.

FROM SCRATCH2020 is the output of a Niigata based winery that recently started producing cider in collaboration with a sommelier/owner of a restaurant in Tokyo. It is a single varietal cider, containing the juice of Japan’s very own Fuji variety, which has a honey-like saturation near its core. Despite this fact, the beverage is dry. This is perhaps owing to the fact that the maker used small apples in its production. The dryness is quite appealing, as is the low alcohol content, 6% abv., which is not unusual for a hard cider. The color is pale lemon, the acidity medium, the body light, and the CO₂ akin to an Italian frizzante, slightly fizzy. We would guess it is around 3 atmospheres of pressure.

This is a wonderful product. Advice: If you see it, buy it!