2026/10/05
The Sake Made by a Champagne Cellar Master
Régis Camus, Japan’s great breweries and the art of Assemblage
A composition by Régis Camus in collaboration with Japan’s most respected breweries.
That is HEAVENSAKE. Régis Camus was Cellar Master at Piper-Heidsieck and at Rare Champagne, and during his years in Champagne was named Sparkling Winemaker of the Year eight times at the International Wine Challenge. HEAVENSAKE is made in Japan. With our partner breweries there he brings that craft to sake, and together they compose each expression through Assemblage.
what a cellar master does
In Champagne, the Cellar Master’s work runs from the grape harvest to the day a Champagne is ready for release. At its center is Assemblage. Each year the Cellar Master tastes the wines of the new harvest, many separate lots, each with its own character, alongside reserve wines kept from previous years, and decides how much of each belongs in the final wine so that the result has the aroma, texture and balance intended.
the art of assemblage
Assemblage is the art of composing a new expression from several sakes. Each partner brewery makes its sakes with its own rice, its own water and its own Toji, the master brewer who leads the brewing. Régis and the brewery taste them side by side and explore proportions until the aroma, texture and finish are the ones they set out to reach. The result carries the brewery’s craft and his palate together: LABEL ORANGE, for example, is assembled from multiple expressions of Urakasumi.
the breweries he composes with
Each HEAVENSAKE bottle is composed with one partner brewery, from that brewery’s own sakes, and each partner brings its own history and its own mastery.
Dewazakura, in the snowy valleys of Yamagata, has brewed sake since 1892 and in the 1980s helped make Ginjo sake more widely accessible. Together they composed LABEL AZUR.
Niizawa, in Miyagi, was rebuilt after the 2011 earthquake, and its brewing is led by the Toji Watanabe-san. Together they composed LABEL NOIR for Michelin-starred tables, with one aim: a sake that honors the chef’s work without competing with it.
Urakasumi, founded in 1724 in Shiogama, brews the sacred sake for the Shiogama Shrine and is known for its Kyokai 12 yeast. Together they composed LABEL ORANGE.
Konishi has brewed in Itami since 1550. Together they composed LABEL 12, a Junmai sake.
Noguchi Naohiko, revered as the “God of Sake”, has devoted more than seven decades to his craft. His present brewery, the Noguchi Naohiko Sake Institute in the mountains of Komatsu, Ishikawa, was founded in 2017 to pass that craft on to the next generation. PRESTIGE I was composed with him from unreleased sake in his personal archive.
where to start
If this is your first HEAVENSAKE, start with LABEL AZUR, composed with Dewazakura: a fresh Junmai Ginjo with pear, apple and a hint of mint. Serve it chilled in a white wine glass.
