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The International Wine Challenge has been judging wine for 33 years and is accepted as the world’s finest and most meticulously judged wine competition. The IWC receives entries from every corner of the globe and employs a vast number of international wine experts to judge the competition. The results of the IWC are covered by the world’s media, reaching over 1.2 billion people worldwide.
It is a great honour to have been shortlisted in these prestigious awards. In 2014 we were shortlisted for “Innovator of the Year” but, unfortunately missed out on the grand prize. This year we hope to bring it home! We’ll find out at the glitzy awards dinner on 7th July.
Of course, a huge thank you must go out to all our customers. Without you we would be nothing.
Incidentally, the IWC has been judging sake – alongside wine – for 10 years now. I am lucky enough to have been a sake judge for three years and this year, to celebrate 10 years, the judging was in Japan (as opposed to the usual London venue). More on this is a later blog.
A good question if I’ve ever heard one, and there are a lot of – some well-defined – answers. However, an interesting aspect is whether, in order to be called sake, it has to be made in Japan or not (for the purposes of this article I’m referring to Japanese sake and emulations thereof). Indeed the Japanese do not even refer to what we call ‘sake‘ as sake at all; instead, they call it nihonshu (日本酒) meaning ‘Japanese alcohol’. (more…)
Limited offer – 25% off!!! See below for details!
Now I know you’ve been checking and you’re quite right, the Tengu Sake website has been down for the past couple of days. Why? Because TODAY we’re launching a super-awesome, new version!
“But it looks the same!”, I hear you say. Well, yes, but things behind the scenes are a hell of a lot simpler, plus, there’s some seriously cool new features:
All this whilst retaining the ‘filtering by characteristic’ functionality you love so much on the Sake Shop pages.
To celebrate the launch of the new site I’m running a 25% sale on all sake and sake selections until midnight on 14th December! Just use coupon code xmas25 to claim your 25% discount!
Happy sake drinking,
– Oliver
Off the back of being shortlisted for Innovator of the Year, Harpers Wine & Spirit (the must read publication for the UK wine and spirits trade) wanted an interview.
I am absolutely thrilled that Tengu Sake has been nominated for this prestigious award. I started this company about a year ago because I wanted to bring fantastic sake into the UK and make it available and accessible to a non-Japanese-speaking audience. I had lost count of the number of times I had been frustrated with the lack of clear descriptions, tasting notes, etc. available for sake – you literally had to be a expert to understand what the sake you were holding in your hand might taste like – to me that just seemed crazy! I started Tengu Sake to address this (and other!) issues and it is reassuringly awesome that by being shortlisted for this award, other’s recognise our efforts. This the first time a sake company has ever been shortlisted (these things, naturally, are dominated by the wine trade) so I’m delighted we’re in there, reppin’ the sake industry!
For those of you that don’t know, The International Wine Challenge is the world’s most rigorously judged wine competition and has long been a champion of giving sake the recognition it deserves. They introduced sake judging in 2007 and, since then, it has grown to become the biggest sake competition outside Japan, attracting over 700 entries in 2014 (I actually judged for the first time this year but more on that in another blog!).
They also run awards for merchants, there are 16 award categories open to retailers and wholesalers alike. You can find the full shortlist, us included, for all the awards here.
As you can see we’re up against serious competition – some ‘big boys’ in wine – as I said, this is the first time a sake company has been up for an award (possibly the first time any non-wine company has been) but fingers crossed: who knows.
The results are all announced at an awards dinner on 16th July. Wish me luck!
I’ve been working with the team over at Kurobuta for some time now; most noticeably the mighty Head Chef, Scott Hallsworth. Kurobuta started off as a small pop-up on the Kings Road in Chelsea and now, 6 months later and after spectacular reviews, that site’s gone permanent and they’ve opened a new, bigger joint near Marble Arch.
Their food is the business and – according to the Telegraph – so’s their sake (“cracking” actually!) This is just as well since I’m proud to say that both Kurobuta restaurants are supplied, exclusively, by Tengu Sake!
There’s a new exhibition in London’s east end that sounds very interesting. From the blurb:
‘Visitors to Hokusai Exposed will be immersed in the works of the great Japanese Master, Katsushika Hokusai, “re-created” using state-of the-art digital technology, as well as the vibrant 3D streets and pleasure districts of Edo, 18th century Tokyo. The world of ukiyo-e style woodblock prints will be brought to life in a unique event which engages all the senses and is the first showcase of the “re-create” concept outside of Japan.’
There’s also a Hokusai Exposed sake bar (3-6pm Sun-Th/3-9pm F-Sat) featuring three of Tengu Sake’s selections. A glass starts at £2 and it’s a great way to enjoy what looks to be a very cool re-imagining of Hokusai’s works (he’s the guy who did the Great Wave, amongst other famous prints).
Check out www.hokusaiexposed.com
NB – I’ve now been to this exhibition and it’s well worth a visit. They have some stunning recreations of Hokusai’s “36 Views of Mt Fuji” – a series of classic prints. Some people have suggested that digitally printing these works of art de-values them. The Guardian, in particular, seem to have got a bee in their bonnet about this one saying, “Decay is part of the life of art. Of course we can’t see Jackson Pollock’s Lavender Mist, or Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, or Hokusai’s Great Wave, as they looked the day they were made – but why would we want to?”
Unfortunately they seemed to have missed the point; if there’s any medium that this technique is suited to it’s woodblock printing. An artist’s carving might be printed any number of times by different printers using different inks. There is no ‘definitive’ version of a print (some are more famous than others, though) so it seems to me a perfectly valid expression of the work. New printing techniques, different result. Different but not invalid.
Anyway, go check it out for yourself!
Tengu Sake has teamed up with Tonkotsu Ramen on Dean Street, Soho, London to bring you an exclusive sake specials menu. The menu runs from 22nd but I’ll be at Tonkotsu on the day so pop on in and say hi!
Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to announce the launch of the new Tengu Sake website.
Order now at tengusake.com
In April of every year the International Wine Challenge judges thousands of wines and hundreds of sake. This year attracted 583 entries into the sake category making it, by far, the largest sake competition outside of Japan and the most internationally renowned. 2013 is our first year of entering the competition (hell, it’s the first year we’ve had any sake!)
Tengu Sake entered 10 sake and won 9 awards!
Moonlight 
Chronometer 
Shirayuki Banzaimon 
Golden Amber