Katsunuma Wineries in Japan
A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I had a short holiday in Katsunuma City in Yamanashi prefecture (about an hour or so from Tokyo).
Katsunuma - Famous for Grapes and Wine in Japan
It’s known as the Town of Grapes and Wine, and has about 30 wineries scattered around the area, from large famous ones like Suntory, Chateau Mercian, Grace to much smaller and less well known wineries, for example Domaine Chateraise, Chateau Soryu, L’Orient and Asaya.
We visited about 10 of these wineries and tried lots of their wines and some where excellent. Although to be honest, I’m not a big fan of Japanese reds.
A lot of them are made with the Muscadet Bailey A grape variety, which I hadn’t heard of before, but is very popular for wine in Asia apparently. It has a very strong, distinctive berry like taste which I found too overpowering and didn’t like the aftertaste. Although my wife really liked them and we bought a few home with us.
The Cabernet Sauvignons and Merlots were also a lot lighter in body than the French style, and maybe it was because all the tasting rooms were serving them straight from the fridge, I didn’t find any I really liked.
Chateau Mercian Vineyard Katsunuma
Having said that, the whites and the sweet wines were excellent! I’m not usually a white wine drinker, but maybe because of the humidity and heat, they tasted great.
I’ll blog about each of the wineries we visited in turn, in the next few weeks and write up reviews of all the wines.
Overall, it was a great few days and I highly recommend visiting the area if you’re a fan of wine and in Japan as you’ll receive a very warm welcome!
Other Japanese Winery Blog Posts:
Domaine Chateraise Winery, Japan
Chanmoris Winery, Japan
PDF Related posts on MoIppai :
Japan, Japanese Wineries, Wine, Wineries | by MoIppai
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Would love to travel someday to all the different Asian and European countries to taste their wines made from their native grapes. You never know what you’ll find.
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