TENDO, Yamagata Prefecture--Serious rice wine drinkers overseas tend to fall over themselves trying to get their hands on “ginjo” high-quality sake produced by Dewazakura Sake Brewery Co.

The company’s pioneering efforts to promote Japan’s sake culture abroad led to the inscription of “traditional knowledge and skills of sake-making” in Japan on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

Sake, along with Japanese cuisine in general, has become firmly entrenched overseas, particularly over the past 10 years or so. Ginjo sake is now hugely popular outside Japan as well.

As one of Japan’s most renowned sake-producing areas, Yamagata Prefecture is often referred to as the “Kingdom of Ginjo.”

Dewazakura Sake Brewery got an especially crucial early start with ginjo sake, which is characterized by a fresh but elegant fragrance. The delicate taste of the company’s products helped ignite a ginjo boom in Japan.

When sake’s presence as a staple beverage waned in the 1980s and 1990s due to the growing popularity of beer, wine and foreign tipples, Masumi Nakano, the fourth-generation president of Dewazakura Sake Brewery, decided to “take a proactive approach” as he foresaw a further decline in the sake market due to the dwindling birthrate and the shrinking drinker population.

Dewazakura Sake Brewery was ahead of many other brewers in Japan when the company began full-fledged efforts to ship bottles to overseas destinations in 1997.

The company pitched its beverages to New York, London, Hong Kong and other major cities of the world.

Along the way, its sales promotion drives encountered numerous difficulties stemming from cultural norms and customs.

The fruity flavor and clean taste of ginjo sake is achieved by carefully fermenting polished rice at a lower temperature for a longer duration than standard rice wine.

Nakano was confident his product had no equal.

However, he was caught off-guard by the initial response from consumers outside Japan. For instance, Nakano was asked whether his beverages feature “aroma chemicals.” One person wondered if Nakano “immersed melons” in his sake to get that special flavor.

Sake connoisseurs outside Japan typically insist that sake should be consumed hot.

Dewazakura Sake Brewery struggled to win acceptance for its ginjo brands among this select pool of rice wine fans.

But Nakano, now 63, refused to give up.

“Sake can be served hot, cold or at room temperature,” he said. “This versatility constitutes a unique characteristic of Japanese sake and cannot be found in other alcoholic drinks.”

Nakano organized lecture sessions for local restaurant professionals to learn about ginjo sake. He also let participants sample his product so they could discover what foods pair best with the drink.

His efforts began to pay off.

One sake lover went so far as to travel to Yamagata Prefecture, staying overnight at their own expense to visit the brewery.

Dewazakura Sake Brewery teamed up with reliable overseas partners and began exporting its products to upward of 35 countries across Europe, North America and Asia. Exports now account for 15 percent of the company’s total sales.

Globally noted alcoholic brands often bear the names of their producing regions, like champagne, Bordeaux wine and Scotch whisky. Still, this is not the case with Japanese sake.

“Rice wine is steadily gaining recognition overseas,” Nakano said. “However, its reputation has yet to reach the point where their places of origin, such as Yamagata, Niigata and Hyogo, are referenced among drinkers.”

Nakano expects that sake’s inclusion on the Intangible Cultural Heritage list will encourage sake brewing areas across Japan to compete with each other by showing off their distinctive products.

That could lead to greater exposure overseas of obscure sake brands. Imbibers outside Japan will then have a broader selection of sake to choose from, fostering an environment where they can sample more brands for comparison.

“The inscription on the list provides us with a golden opportunity,” Nakano said. “My dream is that people outside Japan will commonly choose sake based on their production regions at some point in the future.”

It seems his journey will never end.