Katsunuma Grape Farm in Yamanashi Prefecture

Last Saturday, Louis and I woke up early and got on a bus headed for the Katsunuma Grape Farm in Yamanashi Prefecture. It took about 3 hours to get there, and because we took a tour bus, the drive was completely stress free. Here is a picture of me in front of the sign for the farm. 

Our initial opinion of the farm was that it was impressive! Along with many miles of growing vines on the farm, there were lattices supporting grape vines above the buildings, eating area, and even above the parking for the busses. Here you can see the grapes growing above the farms small market and parking area.

And here they are growing under the picnic area. 

The first thing we did was sit down for a BBQ lunch. In Japan, BBQ does not mean smoked meats slathered in sauce. Rather, it simply means you BBQ, or grill, your own meats and vegetables. Each person got a plate that had cabbage, bean sprouts, three types of mushrooms, and thinly sliced beef. Of course, everyone also got a bowl of white rice. You can see the hot plate that was at each place setting in the picture as well. 

Yum!

Louis and I wore paper bibs, as did everyone else eating lunch. The oil that was placed on the griddle top to prevent the food from sticking had a way of splattering everywhere. 

After eating lunch, it was time for 45 minutes of all you can eat grape picking. Here I am at the entrance  to the vineyard fields. 

As an added bonus, the area that we were in was a valley surrounded by beautiful mountains. 

If you look carefully at the pictures, you will notice that each and every cluster of grapes has a paper covering. These coverings prevent the grapes from getting covered with too many pesticides.  Some grape clusters were completely covered. I would hate to have the job of covering the grapes with paper... There were so many!

Once we entered the fields where the grapes are grown and stepped under the vines, it became very obvious that we were in Japan. The vines are grown very low to the ground! Our Japanese guide, field hands and other short visitors were all able to walk around comfortably under the grape vine canopy. We, on the other hand, spent most of our time like this:

Although the grapes are covered with paper, the farm staff still do not want people to ingest any pesticides, and therefore asked everyone to remove the skins of the grapes before eating them. At first, we thought this was simply a way of making it take longer for guests to eat the grapes so they would eat less grapes in the 45 minutes allotted. But we soon realized that the skins on these grapes are very tough and are easily removed. Louis or I would cut off a cluster of grapes, grab a grape, peel off the very top of skin, and suck out the insides. It doesn't sound pretty. It didn't look pretty either. But boy, were those grapes delicious! And the scent! Amazing. We ate our weight in grapes. It puts the grapes that we buy in the US to shame. To be perfectly honest, the fruit that we ate at this farm and the fruit that we get in the US should not even be called by the same name. I will be very sad when grape season in Japan ends in the next week or so. Until then, I plan on frequenting my local Japanese grocery store so we can enjoy some more delicious Japanese grapes. Even if they are messy to eat! 

Here we are after eating many, many grapes. Do we look violet? 

We cut one cluster of grapes to take home with us. 2 kilos of grapes (about two large clusters) costs 1500 Yen, or $15 US. This is a normal price for grapes in Japan.

Until next year grape farm!