須坂のさる小路にある小さな
イタリアンで、友人達と春らしい夕食を囲む。
明日から4月。大雪もいつかの思い出。

At a small restaurant in a small street
in Suzaka, we had a pasta dinner with
Spring ingredients. It will be the first day
of April tomorrow. The heavy snowfall was
just a memory now.

久しぶりに穏やかな陽の光に恵まれた
北信濃路須坂にささやかな賑わいが訪れる。
かつては華やかだった商店街に、ちょっとした
心持と笑顔を持ち寄りそれぞれに楽しむひと時。

子供や大人の鼓笛隊が行進して、思い思いの
出し物やら売り物を流したり、顔見知りの家族の
元気を確かめる。穏やかな一日。

私も道行く人と言葉を交わしながら、定番となった
ワインのカップ売りをしながら、
胡桃やら古本やらを並べた出店の店守を
楽しむ。

金沢や東京から寄ったというお客様もいて、楽しんで
頂けた様です。

ワインを売りつつ、陽にあたりつつ

太鼓をたたきつつ子供達の行進

大人のマーチングバンドも。　ちょっと緊張気味？

The sun came to shine after long winter cold in our small town
of Suzaka in the north part of Nagano, a snow country.
The people gathered for the spring festival of the old
shopping street once very crowded long time ago. They
were smiling with good faith and seemed to enjoy this
small feast very much.

The marching bands of small kids and adults came up and
down the streets among the people who were enjoying the small shops
selling goods, foods and beverages. Some were saying hello to the old
friends making sure of the family’s good health. Such a peaceful day.

I sold my wines by cup by chatting with the visitors and
by looking after the goods like chestnuts and second hand
books.

There were some from Kanazawa or Tokyo who visited this festival by chace.
I hope they were happy to pass their time with us here.

あれから、あっと言う間に一週間が過ぎました。
イベント後の後始末に追われています。
写真の整理もままなりませんが、何枚かご紹介
します。　お蔭様で盛況でした。

One week has passed just in a second. So many things
were left to be cleared and the pictures were
left undone. I have to show a few of them one by one.
Thanks to all the bona fide wine lovers, the event was
successful. Thank you very much again!

ワインとシャンソンの夕べ

歌声に聞き入ります

アンコールで

試飲会場で

辰巳さんのトーク

辰巳さんと木村さんのかけあい

作り手と話がはずむ

2月28日（金）の「ワインとシャンソンの夕べ」、3月1日（土）の「北信州ワイン試飲会」および、「辰巳琢郎トーク＆試飲会」の3つのイベントが無事終了しました。
お客様、辰巳様、木村様、出演者の皆様、ワイナリーの皆様、裏方を勤めて頂いた関係者の皆様、様々な形で係って頂いた皆様、本当にありがとうございました。

私は、2日間イベントの進行状況が気がかりなのと種々の対応で写真を撮る余裕も無く、シャンソンのリハーサル時の写真が1枚だけしかありません。その代わり写真は後日イベントのホームページ等でアップさせて頂きます。

いくつかのクレームも頂きましたが、それは今後の糧と致します。概ね好評で、スタッフの顔が楽しそうだった、シルキーでこんなに笑い声が聞こえるなんて、みんな笑顔だね、2回目はいつやるのですか等々、大変嬉しいコメントもたくさん頂きました。

辰巳さんと木村さんのトークも絶妙で、日本ワインの価格面に関する辛口のコメントもありましたが、日本ワインを育てるのは消費者の気持ちだとか、北信州といっても同じ品種でワイナリーによってこんなにもスタイルや風味が異なるということ、またいろんな食事との合わせ方など、多岐にわたり示唆に富むお話でとっても充実していました。

商業的に考えると長野市でやったほうが集客には苦労しなかったかも知れません。が、長野の地方都市である須坂、ワインぶどう及びワイン産地である北信州の小都市でやったことに意義があるね、という感想はとても示唆に富んでいます。初めていろんなワインを飲んだ、地元のワインを飲んだ、北信州のワインを飲んだ、という方々も多かったと思います。こういうイベントを通じて、ワインに親しむ人が増えていき、ワインが当たり前に日常生活にある、という風景が増えていけばいいなあと思った次第です。

本当に皆様ありがとうございました。

Three events on last Friday and Saturday, Wine and Chanson Night, Kita Shinshuu Wine Tasting, and Tatsumi Takuro Talk and Wine Tasting made a big success thanks to all the guests, Mr.Takuro Tatsumi and Ikumi Kimura, the singers and musicians, wineries, those who prepared for the events, those who supported the events.

I was so anxious about the progress of the events and had to take care of many things at sites that I was not able to take pictures of the events at all. The only one picture left in my smart-phone was the one taken at the song rehearsal of the first night. I will collect the relevant pictures and show them on the event website later.

We received a few claims that we will improve next time but to our joy there were so many good and splendid comments to the events, say all the staff looked so happily, it was surprising to hear so many laughter at Silky Hall, everybody was smiling, when do you plan to have next one?, etc.,

The talk presented by Mr. Takuro Tatsumi and Ms. Ikumi Kimura was fun and educative including some serious comments on wine pricing in Japan. But above all, their sincere attitude towards Japanese Wines communicated well with the audiences. They talked about how to grow our Japanese Wines, how different the wines are by each winery even though the raw grapes were harvested in Kita Shinshu, how to match each wine to what kind of foods, etc.,

Such kind of events may be easier to be held in bigger city like neighboring Nagano, especially in terms of commercial success. However, one said that such event was so meaningful to be held in a small town where the wine grapes are grown and wines are made. Frankly there were many people who drank so many wines at one time for the first time especially their local wines made in Kita Shinshu. I wish to see the wines to be drunk more frequently and the wines on everyday’s table as a common sight.

In any case, I thank you from the bottom of my heart to everybody who joined these events.

2月に入っての事ですが、オーストラリアは
アデレードに住む友人が送ってくれた
思わず心和む写真。

通勤途中にいました。　とのことです。

私も大学のワイナリーの脇の樹上で
寝ているのは見かけたことはありますが、
歩道でというのは珍しいですね。
探し物でもあったのかな。

Here are the photos one of my friends in Adelaide
sent to me in February. Such healing scenes.

He found them on the way to his office from home.

I saw one Koala sleeping on the tree nearby the university
winery when I was studying there. But you can seldom see one
on the street. Did he/she come down to look for something?