Meet the man from Dom Pérignon putting the spark into sake

When Richard Geoffroy retired as chef de cave of Dom Pérignon in 2019, he would have been well within his rights to put his feet up. As one of the most high-profile figures in Champagne, he had spent nearly three decades juggling the responsibilities of running a vast grande marque with an almost non-stop schedule of international travel and A-list schmooze. But Geoffroy did not slow down – instead, the 66-year-old set about realising another long-held dream: the creation of a sake of his own. 

That sake, IWA 5, now available in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, will be released in Europe and America in February. It’s brewed in collaboration with Ryuichiro Masuda – owner of the highly regarded Masuizumi brewery in Toyama – and will be housed in a building (once it’s finished) by Kengo Kuma, architect of Japan’s Olympic Stadium; the bottle and label are by industrial designer Marc Newson. IWA 5 is a tribute to a country that first captured Geoffroy’s imagination on a visit in 1991. “Since then I’ve been to Japan more than 70 times, I think, and every time I go deeper and deeper,” he says. “There are so many layers to get to know – it is so intriguing and complex and intellectually stimulating. Sake is like the concentration of Japan – of what it is to be Japanese.”

Sake is “as diverse as wine”, says Geoffroy. “Some are hyper-aromatic, others more toned down. Some are mineral, some very sweet, while others are more umami. It has an approachability that I suppose is a little like champagne. Then there is that flow, that glide to it,” he adds, sweeping his hand through the air. “The Japanese have many words for how sake flows down the throat.”

For years, Geoffroy searched fruitlessly for a brewer to work with. In the end, it was his friend Kengo Kuma who had the idea of introducing him to Masuda, a brewer with a forward-thinking attitude, as well as a deep love for fine wine. “As soon as we met,” recalls Geoffroy, “it just clicked.”

Geoffroy’s ambition was to create a sake that could pair with many types of cuisine – not just Japanese. “If you want to achieve that kind of latitude, that flex, you need an element of balance and complexity that cannot be achieved with a single brewing or vat.” And so, true to his champenois roots – but in defiance of sake-making tradition – he created a sake that is a blend: of rice varieties, terroirs and yeast strains.

And it’s a drink of many facets: fragrant pear, stone fruit and the tangy prickle of kumquat. As it warms up in the glass – Geoffroy recommends drinking it from a white wine glass, at around 10-12C – the silver-gold liquid reveals deeper, darker, notes of fig and wood spice. There is a gentle salty-sweetness on the finish, like coconut water. And flashes of bitter too. But overarchingly it is harmonious, with the same kind of seamless silkiness that became Geoffroy’s hallmark during his time at Dom Pérignon.

Geoffroy’s plan is to release a succession of different IWA 5 blends, or assemblages, that could be tasted in a “vertical” flight or over the course of a meal, in a manner similar to vintage champagne.

Up to now, the sake has been produced at Masuda’s family brewery. But come the spring, operations will move into the state-of-the-art Shiraiwa brewery designed by Kuma on the rural outskirts of Tateyama – a town on Japan’s west coast famous for its record snowfalls. (Shiraiwa translates as “white rock”, which could just as easily refer to the chalky terroir of Champagne as it could to the local snow.)

Inspired by the architecture of local farmhouses, Kuma has housed everything under a single 55m-long roof. This includes the brewery, as well as four simple bedrooms for private guests (“right on top of the tank room and just across from the koji room, so you’re totally in the experience”), a dining room and kitchen for hosting visiting chefs. Guests can look out across 10 hectares of rice paddies towards the Hida mountains and enjoy regular visits by troops of red-faced monkeys. “Most breweries are suburban and cannot be visited,” says Geoffroy. “We wanted this to be a brewery that’s as open to the outside as possible.”  

The name IWA comes from the brewery’s name Shiraiwa. But what about that 5? “It’s a number that represents harmony, five senses – for me it signifies assemblage,” says Geoffroy. “My pride in this is not just creating an assemblage of sakes but of people too. It is a new quest for harmony.” 

@alicelascelles