I’ve been making umeshu for eight years. It began while I was living in Hong Kong, when one day the Wan Chai market was suddenly full of green, unripe plums. I asked the vendors what they were used for and learned that they had two main buyers: Korean expats, who made a fruit syrup, and Japanese expats, who made umeshu.
Umeshu is made by macerating green plums with brown sugar and a white spirit of around 40% ABV for a year. The result is a liqueur with a lovely balance of fruit flavour and smooth tannins, the sweetness of the sugar offset by the sourness of the unripe fruit. The maceration draws some liquid out of the plums, so the finished drink is usually around 30% ABV, making it perfect to sip neat or over ice. I also love it as a long drink with tonic water or ginger ale.
At Shuette we have more than 30 plum trees growing throughout the vineyard. Each June, we dedicate a day to picking the green fruit as a team. After washing the organic plums, we combine them with fair-trade organic brown sugar and our own eau-de-vie, distilled from the press wine of our estate grapes. The umeshu then matures for a year at Shuette before bottling, and we release a limited number of bottles each July.
If you can visit Shuette for a tour, we usually offer a taste of the previous year’s vintage to round off the experience. If you can’t make it in person, you can request prices and availability by emailing contact@shuette.com.