Located in Kakudahama, at the foot of Mount Kakuda facing the Sea of Japan in Nishikan Ward, Niigata City, Caved'D'Occhi Winery is a winery with a wide selection of amenities, including a wine shop, a restaurant serving homemade ham and sausage, a bakery that uses homemade yeast and bakes in a wood-fired stone oven, a natural hot spring, and an Aveda salon and spa. Last November, a new auberge, Winery Stay Travigne, was opened. At its heart is the desire to encourage guests to stay as long as possible in the land where wine is born. If possible, I would like to stay for several days, long enough to sample all the different wines.
Photographs by Shinsuke Matsukawa
Travigne overlooking the vineyards
In winemaking, you can't resist the speed at which grapes grow. Perhaps it's the timeline that determines this. When we arrived at Travigne, time seemed to pass by in a truly peaceful way. The building has an earthy texture and color reminiscent of a winery. The fact that it's all made of wood suggests that the aroma of the wine will permeate the interior over time. The names of the guest rooms - "Yamadori," "Honeybee," and "Mole" - come from wines in Curved d'Occhi's "Animal Series." Brass room keys with their respective label designs open doors decorated with footprints. While the layouts of all the rooms are roughly the same, the furniture and art purchased from Europe are all different, creating unique tastes just like the wines themselves.
The comfortable selection includes wine glasses from Kimura Glass, Imabari Tango towels, and botanical Aveda amenities.
The layout allows for sweeping views of the vineyards from every room. Albariño, native to the Iberian Peninsula, stretches across the entire expanse. Of the approximately 40 varieties cultivated to date, this white grape is the flagship of Cave'd'Occhi. "I felt the same air when I landed at Vigo Airport in Spain. Once we began cultivating, we found it to be perfectly suited to the region. However, the sandy soil here is low in minerals, resulting in a light wine that highlights the grapes' natural aromas," says winemaker Fumito Kakegawa. One of the highlights of staying in this region is the opportunity to hear the stories of the winemakers on a winery tour. Hearing the stories behind the illustrations on the labels will help you develop a love for the wines yourself.
For your long-awaited dinner, you might expect to be taken to a restaurant in a separate building, but look forward to a surprise detour. The wine-focused course is prepared by Ryu Sato, who has trained at Le Bourguignon in Nishi-Azabu and in France. Fascinated by Cave d'Occhi, the chef, who has experience in winemaking, transforms local ingredients into exquisite dishes. After enjoying the pairing, move to the lounge for another drink or two. You can even sip rare wines in your room until you feel sleepy, a luxury only possible at a winery auberge.
If you want to take home the memories of this stay, you might want to try the red wine "Sable," which means sand and was created from the desire to "make a wine that evokes a scene." Kakegawa's words, "I am both a winemaker and a communicator," are memorable.
Winerystay TRAVIGNE
1661 Kakutahama, Nishikan Ward, Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture
☎0256-77-5460 (Reception hours: 8:00-22:00)
Check-in 15:00 / Check-out 11:00
All 10 rooms
Rates per person for two people sharing a room, including two meals, start from 35,000 yen (excluding consumption tax)
