On the thirteenth of April 2022 the sake of Shiga was designated a geographical indication for alcoholic beverages. It was the third such designation in the prefecture, behind Omi beef, and the twenty-third for alcohol nationally. Among the two urban prefectures and four prefectures of Kansai, it was the first prefecture-wide designation for sake.

The conditions run to three lines. Shiga rice. Shiga water. Made in Shiga.

Lake Biwa sits in the middle of the prefecture, ringed by mountains of a thousand meters and more, with something like four hundred and sixty rivers running down into it.

Those rivers carry fertile soil down with them and have built the alluvial fans and deltas that the rice grows on: free-draining ground, and rich. The water that moves underground through it has been used for growing rice and for brewing for centuries. The managing body is the prefecture's own brewers' cooperative, and every year, only sake that passes its inspection may carry the name. The sake itself is described as carrying a full sweetness and savor from the rice, with a firm acidity behind it. Both of the raw materials are travelling in the same direction, down toward the same lake.