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June 11, 2022
Local love for both wine and ingredients! Highly recommended for first-time pairing dinner guests: exquisite Italian cuisine at an unbeatable value | TRAVEL
TRAVEL | Risonare Yatsugatake
To Know is to Savor! Returns: HOSHINO RESORTS Risonare Yatsugatake (Part 1)
If asked, “What’s Risonare Yatsugatake like?” I’d say, “It’s a resort where anyone can have a good time.” With children, friends, parents, or a partner… no matter who you go with, you’ll leave 100% satisfied. It might sound like a common answer, but aren’t destinations like that surprisingly rare? Leading the pack is Risonare Yatsugatake, along with other Risonare properties, and also Hoshino Resorts’ Aomoriya and Oirase Keiryu Hotel, and perhaps Spa Resort Hawaiians.
Photographs by OHTAKI Kaku | Text by HASEGAWA Aya | Edit by TSUCHIDA Takashi
Aperitif in the Vineyard: The Terroir Experience Program Finally Arrives in Yatsugatake!
The keyword “terroir experience” might make wine lovers fidget with excitement, but let’s touch on something else first. A key point that makes Risonare Yatsugatake universally appealing is its superb accessibility: just a five-minute drive from the Kobuchizawa Interchange on the Chuo Expressway or from Kobuchizawa Station on the Chuo Line limited express. As a hotel located in Yatsugatake, renowned as a wine region, it boldly promotes itself as a “wine resort” while also offering the surprising versatility of an all-weather pool with wave-making capabilities! In 2021, a 10-meter-high climbing wall opened within the facility. You can also enjoy activities that take full advantage of its location overlooking the Southern Japanese Alps, such as horseback riding, kayaking, and paragliding, not to mention an open-air hot spring bath.
Strolling along the 150-meter cobblestone promenade, “Peperoncino Street,” the resort’s main thoroughfare, is also a delight. Twenty unique shops form a charming small town. During Christmas 2021, they even displayed a wine bottle tree made from 12,000 used wine bottles, offering a glimpse into the “serious side of Hoshino Resorts” in this area (laughs).
So, if you really dive into the fun at Risonare Yatsugatake, you’ll find time simply isn’t enough (laughs). Ultimately, how you spend your time and what you enjoy is entirely up to you. In fact, many people visit with three generations of their family.
What about me? Oh, you know already, don’t you? (Here, please imagine me saying, “How would I know?”) My biggest travel objective is food and drink (emphatically). It might even account for half of my travel enjoyment.
Whether they knew this or not (I suspect they did!), the staff at Risonare Yatsugatake recommended the “Vineyard Aperitif” activity (available March-December, fee applies). Enjoying pre-dinner drinks and light snacks in a vineyard – a special plan that would make any gourmand want to break into a victory lap just hearing about it.
We were guided to “Komaki Vineyard,” located a few minutes’ drive from the resort. This is a vineyard run by Yasunobu Komaki, who returned to Yamanashi after serving as a sommelier at the Imperial Hotel, and his wife. Komaki Vineyard also offers accommodation, allowing guests to experience not just agriturismo, but wine tourism.
The main building of Risonare Yatsugatake. The glass-enclosed space in the foreground is “OTTO SETTE”
Main Dining Room “OTTO SETTE”
Still in a dreamlike state, we returned to the resort and headed to the highlight of our trip, the main dining room, “OTTO SETTE.” The dining room, designed by world-renowned Italian architect Mario Bellini, features a high, open ceiling and is themed around “the marriage of superb ingredients and wines from Yamanashi and Nagano Prefectures.” The creative Yatsugatake Italian cuisine, which maximizes the potential of vegetables, and the exquisite wine pairings from Yamanashi and Nagano, sharing the same climate and soil, are incredibly enjoyable. Despite being an exceptionally stylish space, there are no age restrictions. Private rooms are also welcoming to dogs, our beloved family members. We’re captivated by its broad-mindedness, which embraces and envelops all food lovers!
Chef Masato Kamata
Now, the chef at “OTTO SETTE” is Masato Kamata. Strictly speaking, he’s from Nagano Prefecture, but Kobuchizawa, where the resort is located, is almost on the border between Yamanashi and Nagano, so he jokes, “It’s like I was born in the Yatsugatake area.” Kamata, born in 1981, honed his skills at hotels in Yamanashi Prefecture before joining Risonare Yatsugatake in 2012. In July 2021, he was appointed Executive Chef of OTTO SETTE. When asked about the concept of his cuisine, Kamata replied, “I want to express Yatsugatake and the current season through my dishes.” Oh my. Today, I’m going to savor the spring of Yatsugatake.
Today’s menu was the spring course, consisting of 10 dishes. Titles like “Gathering,” “Nature,” “Vegetable Patch,” “Texture,” and “Sprouting” lined the menu, each sounding so delightful, I realized I was already completely captivated by the world of OTTO SETTE. Let the battle begin (it’s not a battle!), I heard the sound of a conch shell from somewhere.
Senior Sommelier Masakuni Nagakubo
Ah, I almost forgot to mention, as it’s so obvious, but we also ordered the wine pairing! OTTO SETTE boasts a 12-meter-long wine cellar, designed to resemble a sake brewery, housing approximately 2,000 bottles. About 90% of these are wines from Yamanashi and Nagano Prefectures, with the remaining 10% being international wines, primarily from Italy. They really go all out. Senior Sommelier Nagakubo, a native of Yamanashi, personally visits producers, engages in conversations, and listens to the stories behind each wine before making his selections. The sheer bliss of enjoying ingredients and wines nurtured in the same terroir, accompanied by fascinating anecdotes… This is why I continue to visit restaurants.