NV IWA 5 Assemblage Reserves Toyama 720 ml

Richard Geoffroy's sakes have held high honors from the beginning: His Assemblage 5 being poured by the glass at Thomas Keller's three-Michelin-star The French Laundry. Many other Michelin-starred restaurants across the globe feature it as well.

But today's Assemblage Reserves goes beyond.

Richard served for nearly three decades as Dom Pérignon's chef de cave—the guy who decides what's worthy of the legendary Champagne house's label, how the wine should be blended, and when to release the bottles. Then he departed Dom to make sake. Many were shocked, but, knowing Richard, we weren't surprised. He'd been obsessed with the idea for a while.

This landmark bottling shows how far he and IWA have come. Unlike even the finest other sakes out there, the Assemblage Reserves is made entirely from older base components (like "reserve" wines in Champagne blending). These components, which are aged two to seven years, were all individually bottled and matured at IWA's brewery, Shraiwa Kura, over the years. The average age of the blend is at least four and a half years, and the Reserves is capable of aging for many years in the cellar.

Richard first fell in love with Japan while on trips there for Dom Pérignon. Then, that love extended to sake. We remember talking to him about making sake back when the idea seemed far-fetched. We spoke again sometime around 2015 or 2016, and something had changed. He'd started to seriously consider what it would take to produce something at the quality level he demands, and what he would bring to the table. When he left Dom Pérignon to start IWA, we knew the sake world was in for a treat.

Richard has delivered… and then some. From building his own state-of-the-art brewery in Toyama prefecture—where the water is absolutely ideal for sake production—to a meticulous blending process rivaled by very few in the sake industry, he is making something truly unique and special. The Reserves puts an exclamation point on that.

This is a boundary-breaking sake from one of the geniuses in the field. Every sip is something special, and we can't wait for you to try it.