Stay at a winery

Back in January, a friend and I celebrated our birthdays by staying at a winery I've been wanting to visit. 

Typically, Izu, which is where this winery is located, isn't really suited to raise wine grapes since it's considered as being too warm. But the winery's founder wanted to build a winery in the region where he was from. His hard work paid off since he succeeded in growing grapes and churning out decent wine.

Granted, the facilities have seen better days but we enjoyed our stay. I booked a bigger room that had twin beds and a little raised tatami (floor mats made with a straw base and a woven rush cover with cloth borders) space with a table, floor chairs, and a Japanese tea set on the table. There was also a small gift of bath salts made out of the wine they produce since I mentioned that we're celebrating our birthdays when I made the booking. Also, the room comes with a bottle of complimentary wine.

My friend offered to drive since it wasn't a long drive from where she lives. I had to work half day so I took the train down to her neck of the woods. We stopped by an oceanfront cafe she's been wanting to visit. They had some great smoothies. The cafe offered grilles sammiches but we didn't want to ruin our appetites so we only ordered smoothies to take with us to sip on during the drive. 

We relied on Google Maps to get us to our destination safe and sound. We went through some narrow and winding roads, making us wonder if we're being lead to somewhere we'll end up dropping off the face of the earth. You can imagine our relief when we finally came across a sign telling us that we're going in the right direction. 

We were offered a free tour of the winery which was on the other side of the grounds. We went on the tour thinking it would be good fun. A bus came to pick us up and the facilities were pretty impressive for such a small outfit. The view from the vineyard was awesome. The pandemic killed the free wine tasting, but they only charge like $1 a glass. Plus we only had enough time for a couple of glasses before the bus came to pick us up. They make a mean Merlot and I picked up a bottle to take home with me. 

Wine was included with the dinner buffet. I was kind of disappointed that they only had one white and one red. The white was OK, but I liked the red better. The buffet had a variety of dishes--pasta, steamed dumplings, veggie stir-fry, curry, tempura, rice, miso soup, roast beef, salad, small appetizers, cheese shaved off a big wheel, and crackers. After sampling a bit of everything, I was happy just munching on the roast beef and shaved cheese and sipping red wine. We were so stuffed! We snagged a couple pieces of cake for dessert before we headed back to our room. 

We exchanged Xmas/birthday presents after we got back to our room. I was tickled when I saw that she got me a really cute pair of Garfield shower sandals. They're surprisingly comfy to wear, too. She also got me a Garfield tumbler. We like to find things that have our favorite characters on them. 

The hotel had a communal onsen (hot springs) bath. We had a quick soak before dinner to freshen up, and enjoyed a nice long soak after we rested up a bit after dinner. I spent most of my time enjoying a soak in the outside bath. Of course, we enjoyed a nice soak after breakfast, which was the standard mix of Japanese and western fare of rice, miso soup, grilled fish, and soft-boiled egg, homemade yogurt, cereal, toast, milk, tea, and juice. An interesting twist was that there was a vinegar made out of grape wine on offer to try with the yogurt. It was really sweet with just a hint of sourness. I must say, it was an interesting experience. 

The weather wasn't great on our way back, but we still had a good time playing tourist. We stopped by the Shusenji Temple, a big temple in the area that's a popular tourist spot. We roamed around the temple ground. Plum blossoms were in bloom and the yellow blossoms were so pretty. 

One great thing about driving is that we can stop by shops and markets we come across. We stopped by a couple of markets, picking up some fresh veggies and snacks, and also stopped by a local German bakery. The breads we picked up were pretty good, as were the veggies and snacks we picked up at the market. I really liked the "wakoucha" (Japanese black tea) I found at one of the markets. Shizuoka, where the hotel was located, is famous as green tea growers. Some places offer black tea as well. This makes sense because both teas originate pretty much from the same leaves, just processed differently. The wakoucha I found is milder than black tea. 

We stopped by the same cafe for a late lunch of grilled sammiches and coffee. I ordered the ham/cheese/jalapeno sammich. It was pretty good and hit the spot. 

I had a great time and am looking forward to our next trip.