Junmai Daiginjo Ryuou Yamadanishiki（Brewed by Soil Type）

Chapter 1

Terroir

No matter the time and place, alcoholic drinks have always and everywhere drawn people together and become a part of their lives. They are also closely intertwined with climate and geography, faith, culture, history, agriculture and eating habits.
The agricultural products of a region bear its distinguishing characteristics. And these agricultural products are turned into alcoholic drinks for religious or cultural reasons.
So it is no exaggeration to say that the qualities of the raw materials used to produce alcoholic drinks directly reflect the people and landscape where they were grown.

Chapter 2

Growing Ryuou Yamadanishiki

Yamadanishiki is recognised as the supreme variety of rice for producing sake. The Matsuse Sake Brewery and farmers in the Ryuou region who grow sake rice have been cultivating Yamadanishiki for around 30 years. Our aim was to increase the quality of the rice grown here to the level of the most highly regarded regions of Hyogo Prefecture.
Ensuring that the rice stalks do not collapse before harvest and that each and every grain of rice grows as large as possible. We tried and tested different methods of cultivation until we discovered what is ideal for this region. The fruit of these unceasing efforts is increased quality with each successive harvest of Yamadanishiki, surpassing even that of the most respected regions.

Chapter 3

Characteristics Grown from the Soil

The highest-ranked fields in Hyogo Prefecture are mostly clay soil clustered in narrow valleys. Ryuou is a basin surrounded by mountains running east to west, but its rice fields can be found in a number of different environments: on level ground, in the foothills of the mountains, on the banks of the river. It also has a number of different soil types: clay, silt, sand and gravel, and mixed soils.
Rice grown on clay soils, which hold water and fertiliser well, is resilient and produces large grains. Rice grown on well-drained soil containing fine gravel is hard, delicate and sharp. The characteristics seen in the quality of the rice come from where the soil is between these two extremes.

Chapter 4

Emphasising the Nature of the Rice

When you believe that "the qualities of the raw materials used to produce alcoholic drinks directly reflect the people and landscape where they were grown", the next step is to express the many and varied soil types in Ryuou, its landscape, the atmosphere of its villages, and the qualities of everyone involved in growing the rice through Matsunotsukasa Junmai Daiginjo Ryuou Yamadanishiki itself.
Our great hope is that it brings the town of Ryuou to mind and that the flavour allows you to experience the origin of the rice from each field.

Ryuou Yamadanishiki Rice Growing Area Map of Ryuou Yamadanishiki

area	texture	character
Kayochou	［clay soil］	Located slightly to the south of the brewery, this infilled marsh encircled by small streams has fine-particle clay soil. The black, sticky clay retains water and fertiliser for long periods, allowing it to produce very rounded, soft rice.
Hashimoto and Yuge	［clay soil with sand］	Traversed by a number of thin streams, these areas have the same clay soil as Kayochou mixed with river sand and small stones. The soil has a little gley, which gives it slightly better drainage than Kayochou and therefore produces rice which while still rounded also has a delicate texture.
Okaya and Sue	［clay soil with gravel］	Made up of long strips of lowland on the banks of the Sofu river, the soil in these areas is clay mixed with river sand and grit. The combination of abundant water and water-retaining clay soil is balanced by good drainage from gravel, producing rice that is both soft and light in texture.
Yamanaka and Kagami	［silt with fine gravel］	Found at the foot of the mountains, Kagami includes sections with hard granite. The earth is silt with plenty of silica sand from the weathering of the granite, mixed with sand and relatively large pieces of grit to produce a gravelly soil. (There is some mixing of clay soil from neighbouring areas.) It has good drainage, producing rice with a delicate, light and relatively hard texture.
Yamanoue	［silt with fine gravel］	This hillside area was formed from earth carried by the flooding river (gravel from granite and other rocks). After reclamation, it revealed a substratum of silt (light in colour with little humus) mixed with fine gravel. The soil has very little positive ion exchange, resulting in short, hard rice with a distinctive sharp texture.

area・texture	character
Kayochou ［clay soil］	Located slightly to the south of the brewery, this infilled marsh encircled by small streams has fine-particle clay soil. The black, sticky clay retains water and fertiliser for long periods, allowing it to produce very rounded, soft rice.
Hashimoto and Yuge［clay soil with sand］	Traversed by a number of thin streams, these areas have the same clay soil as Kayochou mixed with river sand and small stones. The soil has a little gley, which gives it slightly better drainage than Kayochou and therefore produces rice which while still rounded also has a delicate texture.
Okaya and Sue［clay soil with gravel］	Made up of long strips of lowland on the banks of the Sofu river, the soil in these areas is clay mixed with river sand and grit. The combination of abundant water and water-retaining clay soil is balanced by good drainage from gravel, producing rice that is both soft and light in texture.
Yamanaka and Kagami［silt with fine gravel］	Found at the foot of the mountains, Kagami includes sections with hard granite. The earth is silt with plenty of silica sand from the weathering of the granite, mixed with sand and relatively large pieces of grit to produce a gravelly soil. (There is some mixing of clay soil from neighbouring areas.) It has good drainage, producing rice with a delicate, light and relatively hard texture.
Yamanoue［silt with fine gravel］	This hillside area was formed from earth carried by the flooding river (gravel from granite and other rocks). After reclamation, it revealed a substratum of silt (light in colour with little humus) mixed with fine gravel. The soil has very little positive ion exchange, resulting in short, hard rice with a distinctive sharp texture.