I got off at the Maibara station, about a two and a half hour ride by bullet train from Tokyo.
I have a friend there with a car and another friend joined us from Nagoya. We visited Hikone Castle and the Hitomi Winery.
まずは彦根城。ゆるキャラのひこにゃんには会えなかったが、お城をゆっくり見学できた。入り口までの曲がりくねった道や急な階段はどれも戦で敵が攻めずらいように出来ていると同時に、日常生活でも相当不便だったのだろうと推察した。
We started with the castle. It was known as a strong defense and was built on the mountaintop. It overlooks Lake Biwa, the biggest lake in Japan. Quite a spectacular view. The weather was just perfect. The white walls looked so pretty under the clear blue sky.
お昼はお菓子の有名なたねや でランチ。
We had lunch at Taneya. It has a nice ambience and serves great dishes. We had a lovely time.
その後1時間くらい移動して、ヒトミさんへ。
Then we drove about an hour and arrived at the winery.
ヒトミワインは酸化防止剤を添加しないにごりワインで有名だ。このワインを初めて口にした時の衝撃は今でも忘れられない。その優しい味でつい飲み過ぎたのに、次の日が辛くなかったのも嬉しかった。
I still cannot forget the impressions of my first taste of Hitomi wine. Their flagship wine is NIGORI Wine, a wine made with no antioxidants and as few chemical additives as possible. So NIGORI wine is not clear (NIGORI means “not clear” in Japanese), you can see sediments in the bottle. It is like a natural grape juice with alcohol. It is very different from regular wines, but very tender. I fell in love with this wine when I first tasted it.
見逃してしまいそうな、地味な入り口だった。今回醸造家の方は仕込み中で残念ながら、あまりご挨拶できず。併設されたパン工房の香ばしい香りを肴に試飲。デラの甘い香と口にした時の酸味のギャップ。やはり美味しい。
The sign for the winery is not very obvious. We almost drove past it the first time, without noticing it.
It has a bread factory within the structure. Smelled yummy! We tasted various types of bread and they are all good. We also tasted a few wines. Two were Delaware wines (dry and super dry) and one a sparkling wine.
I bought Dela Soul, Kire Dela, Ikkaku
帰り道の琵琶湖に沈む夕日はとても綺麗だった。短い時間なのにゆったりとした休日だった。
The sun setting into the Lake Biwa was so stunning. We had a really good time.