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HEAVENSAKE — the sake a Champagne cellar master blends in Japan

Régis Camus spent 20 years as cellar master of Piper-Heidsieck and Charles Heidsieck. He now does the same job with Japanese sake: he does not brew it, he blends it. Four bottles, from $33.

Choose a bottle What is assemblage?
Blended by Régis CamusFour Japanese breweriesJunmai only — no added alcohol$33–$137$19.50 flat rate shipping
Three HEAVENSAKE bottles: Konishi Junmai 12, Dewazakura Junmai Ginjo Azur and Urakasumi Junmai Daiginjo
The HEAVENSAKE Trio — Konishi, Dewazakura and Urakasumi

Which HEAVENSAKE should you buy?

Every bottle is junmai — rice, water, koji and nothing else. What changes is which brewery Camus worked with, and how far the rice was polished.

Shipping is $19.50 flat, however many bottles you buy.

    HEAVENSAKE “Noguchi” Prestige I ($850) is sold out. It is a blend of unreleased sake from the personal collection of Noguchi Naohiko, put together by Camus. We will list it again when we can get it.

    Every HEAVENSAKE is junmai

    Junmai means rice, water and koji — no distilled alcohol added, natural fermentation only. It is a smaller category than most people assume.

    3ingredientsRice, water and koji. Nothing else goes in.
    0added alcoholNothing is fortified or diluted with distilled spirit.
    <10%of sake sold worldwide is junmaiThe rest has distilled alcohol added during brewing.
    12–16%ABV across the rangeKonishi Junmai 12 is the lightest, at roughly the level of wine.
    Sulphite freeAdditive freeGluten freeNatural fermentation only
    Regis Camus with Koichi Saura, president of the Urakasumi brewery, in front of the brewery

    Régis Camus (left) with Koichi Saura, president of the Urakasumi brewery. Courtesy of HEAVENSAKE.

    He does not brew the sake. He decides how it goes together.

    Almost all sake is sold as a single brew. Camus does what he did in Champagne for 20 years: he takes separate batches, tastes them, and decides the proportions. That decision is the product. HEAVENSAKE calls it assemblage.

    We asked him about it.

    “When adding one wine to another wine, that doesn’t make two — it makes much more. For me, assemblage is like a puzzle.”Régis Camus, interviewed by Palate Project, December 2022
    “When one tastes HEAVENSAKE, one takes it on the nose, on the mouth, and one tastes it, really, like a wine.”Régis Camus

    You will also see the name written as two words, Heaven Sake. It is the same brand.

    Choose a bottle

    The four breweries he works with

    Camus does not own a brewery. Each bottle is brewed by a Japanese kura in its own house style, and blended afterwards.

    Hyogo · founded 1550

    Konishi

    The oldest sake brewery still owned and run by the same family. Water comes off the Rokko and Nagao mountains.

    Yamagata

    Dewazakura

    Their 1980 release Oka Cherry Bouquet helped start Japan’s ginjo boom.

    Miyagi · founded 1724

    Urakasumi

    Run by the Saura family, now in its 13th generation. Two hundred years ago it was appointed to make the sake for the local shrine.

    Miyagi

    Niizawa

    Known for polishing rice further than almost anyone in Japan.

    The bottle and the seal

    The bottle shape was drawn to sit between three things: the purity of water, the timelessness of wine and the character of champagne.

    The seal on the label is a hexagon — the shape France is nicknamed for — drawn in irregular calligraphic lines that form three smaller hexagons: water, rice and koji.

    HEAVENSAKE Niizawa Label Noir bottle, showing the hexagonal seal on the label

    Shipping and handling

    $19.50 flat rate

    Flat rate for alcohol, however many bottles are in the order.

    Expedited shipping available

    Choose it at checkout if you need the bottle by a date.

    An adult has to sign

    Someone 21 or over must sign for the delivery. We cannot leave it at the door.

    HEAVENSAKE is imported through licensed distributors. It is not one of our direct-import bottles.