Katsunuma in Yamanashi Prefecture is famous as the home of a cluster of well-known wineries that show up in Oishinbo and The Drops of God. I’d been waiting since spring for October, when the grape harvest is over and the first wine of the year comes out, and since there happened to be a wine festival that weekend too, I went for both.
From Shinjuku to Katsunuma it takes about 1 hour 10 minutes on the Chuo Line limited express. I deliberately went by ordinary trains, and on the way there it was really cheap and fun. You take the Keio Line from Shinjuku almost to the end of the line at Takao, then change to a local train bound for Yamanashi. It takes about two and a half hours, so on the way back I was tired and took the express.
Scenes from the festival
They’d set everything up on a junior high school sports ground. It looked a bit modest, but with so many people there the atmosphere was lively.
The free wine tasting corner
You can taste at the winery tents too, but here you pour your own and drink as much as you like. The line for the red wine was long.
The stand selling tasting glasses
500 yen. I’m going to be wandering around drinking for a while, so I’ve got to buy one of these ^_^
The grape girls
There was also a free grape giveaway. The grapes were pretty ordinary compared with the ones on sale, but they’re free, so no complaints.
They even had a sentai hero show for the kids.
Fun stuff ^_^ It must be hot under those masks, but they put on a good, lively show.
The tent of Katsunuma Winery (Katsunuma Jozo)
This is probably the most famous winery in Katsunuma. Their wines are really high quality, but the ones out for tasting were the cheapest bottles, so I couldn’t get a feel for what Katsunuma wine can really do. You’d have to come with someone who knows them well to get a taste of the secret stash hidden away in the cellar… whether that chance will ever come my way, who knows…
After drinking for a good while my head was spinning. I slipped out of the festival grounds for a little walk.
Roses on a wall
Grapevines
Autumn flowers
Back at the festival, I bought a bottle of wine to take home as a gift.
It’s made from a grape variety called Niagara, and it was closer to grape juice than wine ^_^ Still, it smells nice and tastes sweet, so I thought it’d make a good gift for people who aren’t into wine and bought it.
Hoto
A local dish that’s a bit like thick handmade noodles dropped into miso soup. The food I was really after was something else, but it was so popular that the line was long and it sold out fast. So I tried this instead, and it was just so-so.
If you look closely… it’s a baseball field…
Even so, far as it is from Tokyo, lots of people came and the festival was a success. Katsunuma wine falls a little short on value for money, but it’s great that so many people take an interest. It’s supporters like these that make good wine possible, I suppose.
That’s enough festival-watching; next I head to Chateau Katsunuma.
Along with Mercian, it’s the biggest winery in Katsunuma. Lots of tour groups stop by. You can tour the inside of the winery, so I went in, but somehow it felt like a factory. I guess that’s to be expected… I’d imagined something a bit more rustic.
Katsunuma scenery
It sits at the foot of the Southern Alps, so it’s mountains all around. It’s countrified, but has a certain homely charm. If I’d come when there was no festival it might have been a little dull. Well… in that case I’d probably have dropped by a hot spring…