Local love for both wine and ingredients! Highly recommended for first-time pairing dinner guests: exquisite Italian cuisine at an unbeatable value | TRAVEL
To Know is to Savor! Returns: HOSHINO RESORTS Risonare Yatsugatake (Part 2)
OTTO SETTE’s Signature Dish: “Vegetable Patch”
And now, the signature dish of OTTO SETTE, “Vegetable Patch,” which expresses the Yatsugatake vegetable fields in a single plate, the star player of the day, has arrived. We savor thirty types of vegetables, including asparagus and beets, along with a colorful sauce of bell peppers, golden carrots, cabbage, and turnips. “We consider how to make each vegetable taste its best, whether it’s lightly blanched to retain its texture or cut to a specific thickness,” Chef Kamata says. Oh, please don’t say things that make me want to visit again next season before I’ve even started eating! (laughs).
To accompany this multifaceted signature dish, we have the Sauvignon Blanc (2019) from Komaki Vineyard, which we visited earlier. “This vintage uses a bit of oak, so along with the typical crispness of Sauvignon Blanc, the oak adds a flavor that enhances the taste of various vegetables,” says Nagakubo. Wanting to fully experience the magic of this pairing, I gently closed my eyes. Oh, I wasn’t sleeping, you know.
“Texture.” Lightly cooked rainbow trout with crispy skin. Truly a marvel of textures.
The warm appetizer, named “Texture,” is “Smoked Rainbow Trout with Juniper Berry.” Local rainbow trout is slowly cooked at low temperature and smoked using juniper berries, an herb known as a raw material for gin. The addition of a sauce based on egg yolk, with a touch of miso from Yamanashi for richness, is particularly ingenious (laughs). To accompany this slightly pink rainbow trout, we have “Tsugane La Montagne 2019” from the winery “L’Atelier du Beau Paysage” in Hokuto City, Yamanashi Prefecture.
You might be wondering, “Huh?” This is a 100% Merlot natural wine made by Hidefumi Okamoto, who gained attention for the movie “The Boys of Wine.” There’s no point in me rambling on. Let Sommelier Nagakubo introduce the pairing.
“It has complex fruit flavors like prune, with nuances reminiscent of katsuobushi, evoking a sense of Japanese umami. It complements the juniper berry aroma with its fruity and smoky notes, and a pleasant spiciness, enhancing the deliciousness of the rainbow trout.”
Personally, this pairing is currently reigning as my “Best of the Year” so far.
For the first pasta dish, Grana Padano is shaved tableside.
There are two pasta dishes. The first is inspired by the traditional boiled abalone cuisine of Yamanashi, a spaghetti with turban shell and four types of wild vegetables (takenoko, kogomi, urui, gyojanoniku). This dish, aptly named “Sprouting,” with its unique flavors and aromas, is paired with “Hikari Koshu 2019” (Lumiere), a Koshu grape aged in barrels for 19 months. It wasn’t my imagination that the flavor of tamari soy sauce seemed to intensify after taking a sip of the wine.
The second pasta dish, “Blessing ~ Venison Pappardelle with Grana Padano,” is also a memorable plate. The pappardelle, with a ragu sauce made from venison simmered with red wine, tomatoes, plums, and herbs, is paired with “Domaine Rubaiyat 2018” (Marufuji Winery), an assemblage of three grape varieties (Petit Verdot 44%, Merlot 42%, Tannat 14%). While the acidity is mild, the tannins are fine-grained, perfectly complementing the flavor of the venison! “While it pairs well with ragu this time, it would also be excellent with a main course,” says Nagakubo. I had intended to save some wine for the main course, but that was an impossible request for me.
“Spring Water and Earth.” The char is grilled to perfection and arrives at our table with a light, foamy sauce made from the flavorful char broth, accompanied by butterbur puree.
The fish dish, “Spring Water and Earth” (Grilled Char with Butterbur and Shiso Flavor), featured grilled char. Some might be hesitant about char, but according to Chef Kamata, “Char caught in areas close to the mountains has less of a gamey taste. Everyone is surprised by how little gaminess there is compared to what they expected.” The accompanying wine is “Strata Cassa” from Funky Chateau in Nagano Prefecture, which “accepts the slight bitterness of butterbur and the umami of the char broth without question,” says Nagakubo. This wine, primarily Semillon with a honey-like sweetness, was chosen to complement the elegant soup that enhances the char broth, gently softening the bitterness of the butterbur.
“Breath of Spring.” Koshu beef, which becomes more flavorful the more you chew, is used.
The main meat dish, “Breath of Spring” (Roasted Beef with Green Pea Puree and Bamboo Shoots), was served with grilled bamboo shoots and a consommé sauce flavored with green pea puree and tarragon. To accompany this vibrant spring meat dish, Nagakubo paired “Akeno 2019” from Chuo Winery, a long-established winery in Katsunuma. “It’s a wine with an exquisite balance of fruitiness and acidity. It uses four grape varieties, and the distinct character of each is wonderfully apparent. It pairs well with the fresh, green ingredients of spring,” says Nagakubo.
Following the palate-cleansing dessert, the main dessert (two desserts are served!) was “Refreshing ~ Strawberry and Cress Meringata.” Paired with these two desserts is “La Feuillette Rose” (2021) from Okunoda Winery in Enzan City, Yamanashi Prefecture. Surrounded by the sexy rose aroma emanating from the wine, we savor the blissful two-plus hours.
Frankly, I think a 10-course meal at a restaurant within a resort hotel for ¥12,100 (tax and service charge included) is quite a find. And the wine pairing, featuring nine types of wine (one wine for two desserts), is ¥9,500 (tax and service charge included). Considering it’s all domestic (and limited to Yamanashi and Nagano!), isn’t that an incredible price!? The Yatsugatake Italian cuisine, boasting a cheerful yet dignified character at OTTO SETTE, and the story-rich, precise wine pairings teach us about the depth of terroir and, above all, its enjoyment.
Chef Kamata’s powerful words that day, “There are still so many things I want to challenge,” continue to echo in my mind.
There are a total of 172 rooms: 69 in the Residence Building and 103 in the Hotel Building. Options include maisonette-style rooms, rooms with terraces, rooms specializing in wine, and rooms where you can stay with your dog. *The photo shows one of three rooms at the resort equipped with a private wine cellar and stocked with half bottles of Domaine Mie Ikeno.
There are a total of 172 rooms: 69 in the Residence Building and 103 in the Hotel Building. Options include maisonette-style rooms, rooms with terraces, rooms specializing in wine, and rooms where you can stay with your dog. *The photo shows one of three rooms at the resort equipped with a private wine cellar and stocked with half bottles of Domaine Mie Ikeno.
There are a total of 172 rooms: 69 in the Residence Building and 103 in the Hotel Building. Options include maisonette-style rooms, rooms with terraces, rooms specializing in wine, and rooms where you can stay with your dog. *The photo shows one of three rooms at the resort equipped with a private wine cellar and stocked with half bottles of Domaine Mie Ikeno.
There are a total of 172 rooms: 69 in the Residence Building and 103 in the Hotel Building. Options include maisonette-style rooms, rooms with terraces, rooms specializing in wine, and rooms where you can stay with your dog. *The photo shows one of three rooms at the resort equipped with a private wine cellar and stocked with half bottles of Domaine Mie Ikeno.
There are a total of 172 rooms: 69 in the Residence Building and 103 in the Hotel Building. Options include maisonette-style rooms, rooms with terraces, rooms specializing in wine, and rooms where you can stay with your dog. *The photo shows one of three rooms at the resort equipped with a private wine cellar and stocked with half bottles of Domaine Mie Ikeno.
HOSHINO RESORTS Risonare Yatsugatake
Address | 129-1 Kobuchizawa, Hokuto City, Yamanashi Prefecture
Number of Rooms | 172 rooms in total
Public Facilities | Indoor pool with waves, large public bath, main dining room, 20 select shops
Check-in / Check-out | 15:00 / 12:00
Room Rates | From ¥24,000 per room per night (includes tax and service charge, breakfast included)
Access | 5 minutes by free shuttle bus from Kobuchizawa Station on the JR Chuo Line, 5 minutes by car from Kobuchizawa IC on the Chuo Expressway
