Who among you has never tasted the typical sake liqueur while dining in a Japanese or Chinese restaurant? In a few weeks, in bars, wine bars and ethnic restaurants throughout Italy, it will also be possible to taste the 100% made in Italy version: it's called NERO and it's the first Italian sake, which was born in Piedmont from the rice fields of Vercelli and from the places of alcoholic mixing in Turin. “The company has three souls – explains Gabriele Conte, founding partner of Risi&Co. – gliAironi, rice producing company -: there is us, who provide the raw material, rice, there is the Affini bar in Turin, one of the main interpreters of the vermouth liqueur tradition, which is now being re-explored to package NERO, and there's Evho, the bartender school also in Turin that refined the recipe and followed up on the entire production process”. The spark between the three realities was struck a year ago and now Italian sake is ready to be marketed: within the first week of May in Italy, by the end of the year abroad.
But how did the idea of such an innovative "spirit" come about, which brings together Italian and Japanese culture in an absolutely unprecedented way? “The keyword is blending – Conte explains -: we have blended not only Asian and European traditions, but also that of Vercelli rice and Turin vermouth, which had never met before now. There is a fusion even within Piedmont itself. Not to mention that our rice, the raw material from which everything is born, is in turn the result of a mix, that of the waters of the Po and the Dora Baltea”. Rice growing in Piedmont is in fact possible and widespread thanks to that great engineering work which was the Canale Cavour at the end of the 800th century, commissioned by Count Camillo Benso and built by hand with 3 million bricks. The 83 km long canal made it possible to irrigate an area that goes from Chivasso, on the outskirts of Turin, to Galliate, in the province of Novara.
The starting point of this homage to the thousand-year-old Japanese tradition is therefore the "Penelope" wholemeal black rice produced by the Vercelli-based company "gliAironi". A very particular variety, the result of an accurate selection process of the production based on very high quality parameters, of a specific processing and careful conservation that have allowed it to obtain the denomination of "Artisan Reserve". “In the past we had already tried to produce a sort of beer - says Conte -, which in fact was only 5% alcoholic liquid rice, because according to Italian law, a fermentation product of a cereal that is not at least 60% barley. In our case it was 100% rice, because we wanted to experience it like this, we didn't want to mimic craft beers". Just as it was decided not to copy the Japanese recipe exactly, but to Italianize it: “In fact we do not use the molds that are used in Asia. We could have bought them, but we preferred not to undermine the authenticity of a product that is made in Italy, with Italian rice and thanks to an idea of Italian entrepreneurs”.
Respect for Japanese culture, but also an exaltation of Italian spirit. And so the ingredients end up being simply three: rice, water and aromatic herbs. “Production is divided into two phases – explains Gabriele Conte -: the first is the fermentation of the rice, which leads to a product with an alcohol content of 12%. But a sake, to be defined as such, must reach at least 17%, for this reason there is a second phase which we call fortification. Grain alcohol is then introduced and then everything is flavoured, with those herbs that are typically used, here in Turin, to flavor vermouth, a liqueur considered a 'niche' for years but recently made a comeback”. Now all that remains is to taste: the first 10.000 bottles will be packaged within the month of April and could end up on your tables as early as May.
