NV IWA 5 Assemblage 5 Junmai Daiginjo Toyama 750 ml

In both wine and sake circles, Richard Geoffroy needs no introduction.

Wine collectors know him as “Dom Pérignon made flesh,” in the words of World of Fine Wine.

He served for nearly three decades as the legendary Champagne house’s chef de cave—the guy who decides what’s worthy of the Dom Pérignon label, how the wine should be blended, and when to release the bottles.

Then, after 28 years as one of the most renowned figures in wine, he left Dom to make sake. And his IWA 5 Assemblage 5 Junmai Daiginjo is one of the greatest we’ve ever tasted. The incredible quality is born of meticulous craftsmanship matched to one of the world's greatest palates, which is why both the French Laundry pours this as part of their pairings.

Richard first fell in love with Japan while on trips there for Dom Pérignon. Then, that love extended to sake. We remember talking to him about making sake back when the idea seemed far-fetched. But we spoke again sometime around 2015 or 2016, and something had changed. He’d started to seriously consider what it would take to produce something at the quality level he demands, and what he would bring to the table.

When he left Dom Pérignon to start IWA 5, the sake world was in for a treat. Richard has delivered…and then some. From building his own state-of-the-art brewery in Toyama prefecture—where the water is absolutely ideal for sake production—to a meticulous blending process rivaled by very few in the sake industry, he is making something truly unique and special. The blend is supported by the addition of reserve sakes. Like in a solera Champagne, this choice increases balance, richness, and complexity.