2026/10/05
Why We Serve Sake in a Wine Glass
The serve we recommend for every bottle
We serve HEAVENSAKE chilled, in a white wine glass. The bowl gives its aromas room to gather, while the stem helps keep the sake cool.
what does the glass actually do?
Three things, and each one is a separate part of the glass.
The bowl leaves space above the sake where the aroma collects. The rim narrows to hold that aroma where your nose meets it. The stem keeps a warm hand away from something we want cold. It is the same set of reasons the glass exists for wine.
where does the aroma come from?
Much of it is made during brewing. The rice is polished before it is steamed, the koji turns the rice's starch into sugar, and the yeast turns that sugar into alcohol and into much of the fruit and flower you smell. The yeast matters: LABEL ORANGE is made with two yeasts, one of them Kyokai 12, the yeast Urakasumi is known for. A glass does not add any of this; it lets you smell it.
which glass should you use?
A white wine glass, filled to a third of the bowl at most.
A tulip-shaped white wine glass works well, and no specialist glassware is needed. A larger red wine glass works too and gives more room, though the wider surface warms the sake faster, so pour a little less and refill sooner.
how cold should it be?
Chilled: 7 to 10°C (45 to 50°F) for LABEL AZUR, LABEL NOIR, LABEL ORANGE and PRESTIGE I, and 5 to 10°C (41 to 50°F) for LABEL 12.
A fridge runs a little colder than this, so take the bottle out a few minutes before the first pour and put it back between pours.
what will you notice?
The fruit and flowers in each bottle's tasting notes. LABEL AZUR brings green apple and fresh mint. LABEL NOIR opens with floral aromas alongside cantaloupe, tangerine, lychee and ripe apple. A wine glass makes them easier to notice.
then why make a cup at all?
Because the vessel is part of how sake is drunk.
With SHUWAN we made a cup that bridges the traditional ceramic ochoko and the contemporary wine glass, wide enough to release fragrance and beautiful enough to become part of the ceremony. With AMBUSH we made a limited edition of tin cups, conceived as jewelry for the table.
A cup is handled, passed and refilled by somebody else, and that is a large part of how sake is shared in Japan.
where to start
Pour LABEL AZUR chilled, a third of a white wine glass. It is a fresh Junmai Ginjo composed with Dewazakura, lively as an aperitif and good with salads, seafood and sashimi.
