Carefully chosen sake and wine,
from Nagano.
Sunflower Sake has been sharing sake from Portland, Oregon since 2021. In 2027 we open a sake and wine bottle shop, and a restaurant cooked from Nagano's ingredients, in Nagano City.
About us
Sunflower Sake is a small family-run shop dedicated to sharing Japanese sake and wine with the world. The Portland shop is a bottle shop, a tasting room and a sake school in one, with more than 250 sakes on the shelf and a soft spot for warm sake, namazake, aged sake and the bottles from small breweries that most shops overlook.
What matters to us is passing on the story behind a bottle, the brewery and the land, across the counter. That is what we want to do in Nagano too.
Nina Murphy
Founder · Chief Business Development Manager
Founded Sunflower Sake in 2021. Holds the WSET Diploma, WSET Level 3 in Sake, Sake Scholar and Advanced Sake Professional certifications. Teaches the SUN101 and SUN201 sake courses and hosts Fuyu Fest, the annual winter sake festival. Also an illustrator.
Dennis Murphy
Chief Operating Manager
More than twenty years in kitchens, including Head of Food & Beverage at Riot Games in Los Angeles, and a hand-made pasta course in Bologna in 2026. In Nagano he is responsible for culinary direction, operations, finance, supplier contracts, staff training and quality control.
The Nagano shop (opening 2027)
We are preparing a sake and wine bottle shop and a restaurant, run together in one building in Nagano City. The premises are being selected now. The opening is staged: the restaurant first, the bottle shop after it.
Nagano ingredients, northern Italian technique
Hand-made pasta, bread, and a seasonal plate. Vegetables, mushrooms, mountain greens and game bought directly from farms in Nagano and the neighbouring prefectures, served à la carte at a small counter-first room where the cooking and the sake are part of the conversation.
A sake and Japanese wine bottle shop
Sake and Japanese wine bought directly from breweries and wineries, sold by the bottle: namazake, aged sake, small breweries, Nagano wine. Every bottle carries an English description, and gifts are wrapped. The shop opens once the general liquor retail licence is granted.
A place to learn sake
The sake courses and seasonal events we have run in Portland come to Nagano, in Japanese and English, with brewer visits and brewery tours planned.
Opening dates depend on the lease and on the permits and licence, and may move.
The Portland shop
Sunflower Sake in Portland, Oregon is a tasting room, a bottle shop and a sake school. Flights, glasses, warm sake, and as many stories as you will sit for. Open since 2021.
Sunflower Sake
107 SE Washington St. #121, Portland, OR 97214, USA
Tue–Thu 1–7 pm · Fri 2–8 pm · Sat 1–7 pm · Sun 1–6 pm · closed Mondays
Company
| Name | Sunflower Sake Godo Kaisha (Sunflower Sake合同会社) |
|---|---|
| Address | 610-12 Oaza Minami-Nagano Nishigocho, Nagano City, Nagano 380-0845, Japan |
| Established | January 27, 2026 |
| Representative members | Beishu Inc. (executive manager Lauren Miller) / Kohei Kojima |
| Corporate number | 3100003008597 |
| Business | Restaurant operation; retail sale of alcoholic beverages (licence to be applied for); sake and wine education programmes and events |
| Parent company | Beishu Inc. (Sunflower Sake, Portland, Oregon, USA, founded 2021) sunflowersake.com ↗ |
| Management | Nina Michael Murphy (Chief Business Development Manager) Nityananda Rama Murphy, "Dennis" (Chief Operating Manager) |
| Contact | hello@sunflowersake.com |
Working with us
From January 2027 we start hiring for the Nagano opening: a floor manager (food sanitation supervisor) and a head cook first, both starting in April 2027, then cooks, servers and part-time staff. If you love sake or wine, love cooking, or would like to use your English, write to hello@sunflowersake.com.
Contact
For questions about the shop, for breweries, wineries and producers who would like to work with us, and for press, please email us in Japanese or English.