Sake Winery Tour

The Aussies and Americans made their way to Aboshi via the train and found our way to the sake winery. Not really knowing what to expect (only knowing of winery tours in Oz), we walked into a room which had two long rows of tables and sake glasses lined up. We soon made ourselves at home as we grabbed some spare chairs and rearranged the seating. After listening to a speech from one of the business men (we could tell because he was dressed to the nines), and watching a video on the production of sake, we donned our white gumboots and hair nets and headed on a tour of the factory.

Unlike Australian grape wine, much of the labour in producing sake is done by hand. It is a lengthy process of harvesting the rice, washing, separating, trimming, mixing, soaking and straining (in no particular order!!). The whole process takes two weeks.

The tour took us into many areas of the factory, the group of 40 riding the industrial sized elevator to the different levels. It was something like a scene from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, although no chocolate and no oompa loompas (and unfortunately for the girls, no Johnny Depp). The highlight of the tour was undoubtedly having to step through a tray of water to wash our white gums boots to ensure they were clean (at least on the outside)! We saw lots of sake in storage tanks, which meant after the tour there was plenty for us to drink.

We were told to bring our own snacks for the tasting part. Our group brought crackers, chocolate, biscuits, cheese, popcorn, etc. Looking around the room we noticed that the Japanese taste testers were having a banquet! They brought out trays and trays of food which they gorged on. We were given 3 different sakes to taste. They all tasted horrible to me (Jodi) but Jono didn't mind them. Some of our companions were very 'happy' by the time we had to leave. The two-hour tour and tasting was FREE!!!

Jono bought a bottle as a souvenir (purely for decorative purposes!).