On the twenty-eighth of April 2021 the sake of Yamanashi was designated a geographical indication. The prefecture already had one for its wine, and this made it the first place in the country where two different categories of alcohol carried the designation together.

The condition that stands out is the water. The brewing water must be drawn from one of six named systems and no other: the foot of the Southern Alps, the foot of Yatsugatake, the foot of the Chichibu range, the northern foot of Fuji, the Fuji-Misaka area, and the northern foot of Misaka.

The rice must be grown domestically and graded third class or better, which is the ordinary sort of clause.

Then there is a second tier built on top of the first. A sake made only from rice grown in Yamanashi, with water from those designated systems, and with no added alcohol at all, may additionally carry the mark reading Yamanashi no sake. So the name of the prefecture can be earned twice over, and the two are not the same claim. Yamanashi's winters are cold and the fermentation runs slow, which is credited with the softness and clarity of the sake. A rule about place, with a stricter rule about place stacked on top of it.