Umeshu Spritz

Japanese plum wine meets sake and soda water in this delicate, floral spritz. Sweet, tart, and effortlessly elegant.

The Umeshu Spritz is a low-ABV sparkling drink that lengthens umeshu - Japan's traditional plum liqueur - into a spritz format, here with sake and soda water, echoing the global aperitivo-style spritz that became popular through the 2010s. Umeshu is made by steeping whole green ume (Prunus mume, the Japanese plum) in distilled shochu or neutral spirit together with rock sugar, letting the plum's sugars, acids, and aromatic compounds extract over several months. Ume's flavor - tart and intensely fruity, with an apricot-and-almond note from the stone's benzaldehyde - and the rock sugar's clean sweetness give the liqueur real depth. Commercial umeshu in Japan is led by producers such as Choya (founded in Osaka in 1914 as a grape grower and winemaker, and producing umeshu since 1959, today the world's largest umeshu maker), Suntory (founded 1899), and Kyoto's Takara, alongside countless regional artisans and a strong tradition of homemade umeshu. Combining umeshu's sweet-tart plum intensity with sake's clean rice character and soda water's effervescence yields a drink whose aromatic complexity outruns its modest strength - typically landing in the low-teens ABV once built - which is what makes it such a natural, sophisticated low-alcohol aperitivo.