SADOYA winery (サドヤ)
From the end of April through the first week of May (from April 29 to May 8 in case of 2011), many people in Japan is taking holiday longer than usual making use of series of public holidays. Manufacturing companies tend to stop their factories and close offices, so that this holiday is half-forced especially for people dealing with these industries (in other words, a majority of Japanese employees).
I'm not in these kinds of industries and I basically don't like such “compulsory” holiday (I take any time off or holiday when I want!). I usually stay in Tokyo during this period, and recent years, I went mini-concerts organized by La Folle Journée au Japon held at Tokyo International Forum called, but I couldn't get a ticket this year. (I did in fact if it had been held as scheduled, but the festival was reorganized affected by the Tohoku-Pacific Ocean Earthquake and radiation accidents in Fukushima.) Therefore I didn't have any plan at first.
An idea, visiting a winery with my friend, had been in mind for years. I knew a winery named Sadoya in Kofu was accessible by a train, which I thought very convenient who like drinking rather than driving. A friend told me it would be warm and sunny during the holiday, so that we decided to take a day trip.
Kofu is the capital of Yamanashi prefecture and is located 107 km west from central Tokyo. From Shinjuku station, JR express train Azusa takes you there in 1h30. Yamanashi prefecture is the top domestic producer of grapes, peaches, cherries, as well as wine. Recently, wine producing is encouraged by the domestic market growth, and wineries succeeded to make good dry wine accompanying well with meal. Some of these welcome visitors influenced by the trend of wine tourism.
Sadoya is one of them. It began wine producing wine in 1917, and their wines got some prizes in some domestic wine competitions. My friend and I have tasted some red and rose wine both of which we like. In addition, the winery is located near Kofu station, and we could go there in 5 minutes on foot.
The winery offers cellar tours 6 times a day. It also has a restaurant, a café and a shop, so that you can enjoy your meal with Sadoya's wine. We joined the earliest tour and saw large numbers of vintage bottles are stored in their basement cellar. After they stored their wine in casks made of French oaks, they stored in issho bottles, which is about 1.75 little bottle usually used for liquor and liquid condiments in Japan, instead of magnums. I have heard many wineries in this region do, but I hadn't seen them before I saw them in the cellar. I saw old machines used for producing wines were displayed in old storage made of concretes and tiles.
I heard from a staff that this winery was totally damaged by bombing by the U.S troops in 1945 as they produced tartrates, which would be the material for hydrophones used in submarines and battleships as well as wine. He said that tartrates is the salt of tartaric acid contained in grapes, and that is why Japanese military promoted the wine production in Yamanashi during WWII. It was really surprising to know there was such history in Japanese wine making.
Comparing to the visiting winery in Australia, this cellar tour seemed more like factory tours of manufacture. It was as if I came here for learn something rather than enjoying the feeling of winery, which I thought very Japanese although I enjoyed it very much.
After the tour, we had lunch at a café with a glass of sparkling wine and red wine. Strong daylight made me drank little earlier than usual, but dishes used local made ingredients was good as well as their wine.
I'm not in these kinds of industries and I basically don't like such “compulsory” holiday (I take any time off or holiday when I want!). I usually stay in Tokyo during this period, and recent years, I went mini-concerts organized by La Folle Journée au Japon held at Tokyo International Forum called, but I couldn't get a ticket this year. (I did in fact if it had been held as scheduled, but the festival was reorganized affected by the Tohoku-Pacific Ocean Earthquake and radiation accidents in Fukushima.) Therefore I didn't have any plan at first.
An idea, visiting a winery with my friend, had been in mind for years. I knew a winery named Sadoya in Kofu was accessible by a train, which I thought very convenient who like drinking rather than driving. A friend told me it would be warm and sunny during the holiday, so that we decided to take a day trip.
Kofu is the capital of Yamanashi prefecture and is located 107 km west from central Tokyo. From Shinjuku station, JR express train Azusa takes you there in 1h30. Yamanashi prefecture is the top domestic producer of grapes, peaches, cherries, as well as wine. Recently, wine producing is encouraged by the domestic market growth, and wineries succeeded to make good dry wine accompanying well with meal. Some of these welcome visitors influenced by the trend of wine tourism.
Sadoya is one of them. It began wine producing wine in 1917, and their wines got some prizes in some domestic wine competitions. My friend and I have tasted some red and rose wine both of which we like. In addition, the winery is located near Kofu station, and we could go there in 5 minutes on foot.
I heard from a staff that this winery was totally damaged by bombing by the U.S troops in 1945 as they produced tartrates, which would be the material for hydrophones used in submarines and battleships as well as wine. He said that tartrates is the salt of tartaric acid contained in grapes, and that is why Japanese military promoted the wine production in Yamanashi during WWII. It was really surprising to know there was such history in Japanese wine making.
Comparing to the visiting winery in Australia, this cellar tour seemed more like factory tours of manufacture. It was as if I came here for learn something rather than enjoying the feeling of winery, which I thought very Japanese although I enjoyed it very much.
After the tour, we had lunch at a café with a glass of sparkling wine and red wine. Strong daylight made me drank little earlier than usual, but dishes used local made ingredients was good as well as their wine.
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