Majestic Wine launches Sake campaign

By Michelle Perrett

Published: 18 September, 2018

Majestic Wine is launching a campaign to encourage consumption of Japanese rice wine Sake after introducing three new products to its range.

Majestic said it is launching a campaign to ‘make rice nice’ for wine drinkers who may be stuck in Merlot and Sauvignon ruts. It wants to get more people to taste rice wines with education about Sake’s rich heritage.

The UK retailer is now stocking three different types of sake to attract a range of palates - Daiginjo Genshu Sake from Akashi, Honjozo Tokubetsu Sake Wine from Tokubets and Ginjo Umeshu Sake.

The UK retailer has been offering specialist training in the category throughout summer to its store teams. Customers will be invited to test this knowledge in a series of tastings across the country.

“We’ll succeed if we can help Sake become as acceptable in the high street as Wagamama and Itsu, with shoppers returning home with a bottle of Sake without having their tastes questioned. A whole generation is growing up with Japanese entertainment, cuisine and beer so there’s clearly a Sake-shaped hole in the market that we will try to fill,” said Beth Pearce, buyer at Majestic.

“We’re running some intensive training for store teams - so they feel confident talking to the public about what is still a relatively niche drink. Hopefully by getting some bottles open, explaining what makes it such a fabulous drink, and running tastings in our stores we can help to bring a whole new generation onto Sake”.

Sake has a 2,000 year-old history back in Japan and, despite falling domestic consumption, is becoming increasingly popular in Western markets.

Exports of Sake from Japan have rocketed in the previous decade, reaching 23,481 kilolitres in 2017 (in 2006, the figure just tipped 10,000 kilolitres - according to the Japanese Government).

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