NV Takachiyo 59 Chapter 9 Kamenoo Junmai Ginjo Nama Niigata (500 mL) is sold out.

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One of the most exclusive sakes we’ve offered

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    NV Takachiyo 59 Chapter 9 Kamenoo Junmai Ginjo Nama Niigata (500 mL) 500 ml

    Sold Out

    Sign up to receive notifications when wines from this producer become available.
    • Curated by unrivaled experts
    • Choose your delivery date
    • Temperature controlled shipping options
    • Get credited back if a wine fails to impress

    The Three-Stars Are Next in Line

    A 370-meter container ship steamed into Los Angeles from Tokyo. Laden with nearly 19,000 TEUs, the leviathan was carrying just about everything under the sun, from Lexuses to lychees. But we were tracking just one unit, a twenty-foot reefer in which was buried a laughably small load—one that would barely fill the cargo space in one of the gleaming GX460s on board. 

    It was 14 cases of one of the most exclusive sakes we’ve had the chance to offer: the Takachiyo 59 Chapter 9 Kamenoo Junmai Ginjo Nama Niigata. 

    Only a handful of cases of each Chapter release make it into the US. Since Chapter 9 has been anticipated for several years, we took most of it—12 of 14 cases—and MICHELIN three-star icons The French Laundry and SingleThread claimed the rest. Explosively aromatic and lush on the palate, it’s a cult-level sake that our expert Eduardo Dingler can barely find when he’s in Tokyo—and he’s well-known by every barman between Shinjuku and Shinagawa. 

    Takachiyo produces a series of “Chapters,” highlighting different rice strains while keeping the production (water, koji, yeast) ingredients the same. Chapter 9 features Yamagata-grown Kamenoo rice. It was made in a MINUTE quantity, and very few Americans got their hands on it. 

    Just over five years ago, Takachiyo released two new sakes: Chapter 8 and Chapter 10. As you can imagine, the sake intelligentsia went wild, wondering where Chapter 9 was. Aficionados snapped up Chapters 8 and 10 of course, but a seam of intrigue was ripped open. We think you’ll find that Chapter 9, like the last hundred pages of a Murakami novel, was well worth the wait.