ABOUT

MINABE CRAFT UMESHU

What is Minabe Craft Umeshu?

The town of Minabe in Wakayama Prefecture is Japan’s number one producer of plums. The region is home to a longstanding tradition of families enjoying exquisite household umeshus created from the plums found in their own backyards. It’s all about the reliability of using homegrown Nankou plums and the knowledge that our recipe will bring out their individual character. Our craft umeshu is centered around a farm-to-table approach where we know the faces of everyone involved.

Appreciating Natural Change

Our craft umeshu carries on the tradition of umeshu made in local homesteads with family recipes. Each year brings with it different weather, different seasonal and environmental changes, and different individual plums. All this amounts to a constantly evolving flavor. This change is a gift from nature and can never be predicted. It’s an honest taste of the natural world. We hope when you drink our umeshu, you enjoy it as a reflection of an utterly unique moment in nature.

The Nankou Plums of Minabe

The town of Minabe in Wakayama Prefecture is the place of origin of the Nankou plum, one of the most highly regarded plums in Japan. Nankou plums boast the highest volume of production and level of quality in Japan. This variety of plum is known for its size and supple quality. We have inherited the traditional techniques of raising these plums, while employing modern techniques to ensure quality remains high.

Kishu Minabe Umeshu Special District

Umeshu special districts are areas that are permitted to produce alcohol even in small quantities as long as it is created using plums grown in the area. This is how Japan’s greatest producer of plums, Kishu Minabe Umeshu Special District, was born. When you drink umeshu made here, you have the security of knowing the faces of the people who made it. In order to let more people enjoy the rich idiosyncrasies of umeshu created in Minabe, Minabe Craft Umeshu chooses to work with farmers participating in this special district.

OUR STORY

What Minabe Craft Umeshu Means to us

We want to protect the local heritage of the Minabe area while embracing new ideas and novel ways to create umeshu that allow us to experience the change inherent in nature. We also want to carry on the culture and tradition of umeshu, while raising a new generation of umeshu makers. These ideas are what inspired us to create Minabe Craft Umeshu.

FARMERS

Kishu Honjo Umeyoshi

Embraces a hands-on approach to cultivation, processing, and distribution of everything raised on the farm in pursuit of reliability. Approaches plum production from a farmer’s unique perspective, using top quality plums to create a variety of umeshu from different blends.

Yokoyama Shokuhin

Ensures the steady production of quality plums with eco-friendly cultivation practices that prioritize high standards of soil quality. Builds upon a traditional flavor by constantly trying new things in the world of umeshu development.

CU9

Founder of Minabe Craft Umeshu. The first person to create a gin-based umeshu sourced from plums grown on the farm he inherited from his grandfather. Embraces a youthful forward-thinking approach to domestic and international efforts to build excitement around Minabe plum production.

Suzuume

Makes exclusive use of hand selected Nankou plums from the family farm and other contracted farms in the constant pursuit of defining what makes the perfect plum. They now take this meticulous approach to plums to the world of umeshu while applying unique skills and methods to further research.

Artworks

P : TANT inc
AD : Shun Nakazawa
CW:Chiho Sasaki
Photographer : Shoko Hiraoka
Coder:Noboru Kuhara