Le Dessin

Perhaps it is part of the Japanese character to feel the arrival of spring when seeing plum blossoms, to know summer has come upon hearing news of jellyfish, and to feel a bittersweet pang as the year passes its halfway mark when the scent of osmanthus fills the air. This year, we have made a mead that captures that very scent, tightly packed into a bottle.

In addition to the osmanthus, this mead also uses "Miyagawa Wase" mandarin oranges from the Miyamoto Farm in Uwajima, Ehime Prefecture.

This is a bottle filled with many different thoughts and feelings. It features a scent that makes you feel instantly relaxed, a gentle sweetness, and a soft carbonation. Preparing a nice glass and enjoying some mead after a bath... that might not be a bad way to spend an evening.

〈Uwajima→Yasu〉

Uwajima had so little rain this year that it was described as a drought occurring once every 30 years. On top of that, there was damage from hail.
The mandarin oranges were originally scheduled to be harvested at the beginning of November.

Waiting for the rain, waiting for the season, waiting for the moment they are at their most delicious.

We prioritized the judgment of the farmer, Mr. Miyamoto, and had them sent to us when they were at their absolute best. The oranges that arrived were "little giants"—they looked so pure and radiant that I can describe them in no other way. Mr. Miyamoto told us they are most delicious when they have that touch of acidity on the day they arrive, so we hand-squeezed 100kg of them that very same day.

"Miyagawa Wase" with its elegant, soft aroma and a concentrated blend of acidity and sweetness.

We mixed plenty of that juice into the mead and bottled it.

〈Tasting Note〉

We added Uwajima mandarin oranges to mead infused with fresh osmanthus to create layers of aroma. With a gentle sweetness and multiple layers of fragrance, we have given it a strong carbonation to make the acidity easy to perceive.

Style: Specialty Mead

Alcohol: 8%

pH: 3.51

Residual sugar: 55.0g/L

Volume: 500ml

A catalyst for time spent around the table with loved ones, while reflecting on the end of "autumn." It is a bottle that will be there for you when you want to take a breather. Okada-kun recommends pairing it with braised pork belly (kakuni).

〈Mead making〉

The fermentation was very unusual as it was carried out using only lactic acid bacteria. Strictly speaking, the only thing we added was lactic acid bacteria. I had intended to leave it at a high temperature to generate enough lactic acid before pitching yeast, but the acidity wasn't developing, so I left it for a while.

Then, more sugar was consumed than expected, and I realized, "Oh, it’s producing alcohol!" That was the beginning.

As a result, a light acidity and a mild fermentation character gently enveloped the faint, elegant scents of osmanthus and mandarin orange. In the latter stages of fermentation, we added 0.85g/L of hand-picked fresh osmanthus and aged it for four weeks. After that, we were ready to receive the mandarins at any moment.

When the oranges arrived, we hand-squeezed them, put them into the tank, pasteurized them that same day, added carbonation, and filled the bottles.

I decided to prepare it this way in the hope of delivering this year's precious Uwajima mandarin oranges to you while keeping them fresh. Think of the Seto Inland Sea, and why not have a glass?