STAY366
unscoredno first-hand write-up in the thread
A two-rooms-a-night micro-auberge run by the 98WINEs winery above Katsunuma, Japan's first inn with an in-house winery and craft brewery, pairing soba-kaiseki with the maker's own back vintages. Ikyu guests describe it uniformly enthusiastically, praising the Fuji views, personal hosting from the owner, and inventive food, with roughly 40% returning within a year. It is best slotted as a single wine-centric night for the drinking-and-dining concept, which strong crowd sentiment backs up.
Scores
Food
Dinner is a soba-based kaiseki with a different wine paired to every plate, all from the 98WINEs cellar next door and reaching back into older vintages, and the owner serves it himself. The specialty is grilled eel and black truffle wrapped in a soft galette, and Ikyu guests praise both the inventive cooking and the pairing. Before dinner the house craft beer flows freely until 6pm.
Bath
There is no hot spring here. The private bath looks out over the Katsunuma valley and is filled with heated water. Nobody has written about the bathing itself.
Service
The owner serves dinner himself and the conversation runs along with it, and on arrival the winemaker and the brewer each talk you through their own tasting. Ikyu guests describe the staff as warm and smiling and count the talk with them among the pleasures of the stay, and after its first year open the inn was reporting that four in ten guests came back.
Room
The rooms are calm and not showy, with the owner's taste visible in the small choices and the fittings and amenities chosen with care down to the smallest item, and there is no TV or clock, in keeping with the inn's idea of a stay as an extra day. Only two rooms are let each night.
Place
The inn sits above the Katsunuma vineyards in Koshu with a view of Mount Fuji and the mountain ranges below it that Ikyu guests praise again and again, and the winery and craft brewery are on the property, so the afternoon runs from a tasting at 98WINEs (named one of the world's best wineries in 2023) to beer with the brewer in front of the mountains.
Getting there
- Tokyo — 1h30, 0 transfers. Ltd Exp 'Kaiji' Shinjuku→Enzan (~1h30), then ~10-min drive — inn pickup from Enzan Station (reserve).
- Kyoto — 3h45, 2 transfers. Reverse of: The long way round: Ltd Exp 'Shinano' route west via Kōfu to Nagoya (~2.5h), Tōkaidō Shinkansen→Kyoto (~1h) — a genuine transit day.