A Tasty Tipple: From Plum Wine to “Umeshu”

Umeshu with the unripe ume still in the bottle on display at the souvenir shop inside the Nakano BC factory.

Yamamoto Yoshiaki, one of Japan’s few specialist umeshu tōji.

Yamamoto’s pride and joy, Kishū Umeshu Beni Nankō.

Nakano BC’s brewery stands behind a traditionally styled wall.

The research center is packed with high-tech, precision machines.

Company president Nakano Kōji talks about boosting the profile of umeshu overseas.

The Chōkyū-tei Japanese garden at Nakano BC’s headquarters in Kainan.

Making umeshu. A batch this size can be prepared in just five minutes.

Nankō ume are a specialty of Wakayama Prefecture. The highly esteemed Beni Nankō variety are tinged red by the sun.

Each tank holds around 8.5 tons of fruit, or roughly 200,000 individual ume.

Yamamoto carefully inspects the contents of a maturation tank.

From left: Different blends of umeshu flavored with red shiso (perilla), honey, and green tea. On the right is the basic Nakano Umeshu.

After the tour, visitors have a wide range of tasty umeshu-themed souvenirs to choose from.