Park Hyatt Niseko HANAZONO brings back its food and wine festival for a second year

Park Hyatt Niseko HANAZONO will hold the second edition of its Masters of Food & Wine festival from 11 to 13 September, the hotel said in a release dated 23 July.

The three-day programme brings in names from outside the resort's own kitchens, according to the release: Alexis Moko of the Michelin-starred Kyoto restaurant Moko Kyoto, the team from Michelin-starred Sushi Mitsukawa in Kanazawa, Osaka's Yakitori Ichimatsu, and Le Pristine Tokyo, which the release describes as carrying chef Sergio Herman's culinary philosophy. Pastry chef Adrian Nanouss represents Pierre Hermé Paris, Rémy Martin sends Louis XIII ambassador Anthony Doville, and the line-up also includes the Provence winery Château La Coste and the Kyoto tea specialist Ippodo, in business more than 300 years.

Individual events are ticketed separately, per the release: an opening reception is included for hotel guests, a dinner pairing Moko Kyoto with Louis XIII costs ¥30,800, a Pierre Hermé and Ippodo tea pairing is ¥1,760, a floral workshop is ¥10,000, and dinners with Le Pristine Tokyo and Yakitori Ichimatsu are priced at ¥16,500 each with a wine or sake pairing available for a further ¥5,000. A pop-up bar, Bar Gyu, runs à la carte throughout the weekend.

A second running turns the festival from a one-off launch event into a fixture on the resort's calendar, and the timing matters as much as the guest list. Mid-September sits well outside the snow season that Hokkaido's luxury resorts have historically depended on for occupancy, and stacking Kyoto, Kanazawa and Osaka culinary names onto a single autumn weekend is a Promotion play aimed at giving Niseko's growing cluster of five-star addresses a reason to fill rooms before the lifts start turning.