2017 is beginning to feel like a breakout year for Swiss wine. Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate kicked things off in January (Issue 228) with a comprehensive tasting of Swiss wine, a friendly tip of the hat to our local pinot noir, a gala gathering of the clan at its Matter of Taste event in Zürich and an implied […]
Category: Commentary
The Hailstone Shield: Anathema to Organic and Biodynamic Vineyards?
Recently the Association National d’Etude et de Lutte contre les Fléaux Atmosphériques (ANELFA) announced the purchase and installation of 125 silver iodide generators in a no-holds-barred effort to thwart the occurrence of destructive hail storms in the vineyards of Burgundy. On the surface this would appear to be a wise investment but is there an ancillary cost? At least one commentator thinks so. Wine-influencer Tom […]
Chardonnay in Switzerland: No Respect
To the casual observer of Swiss wine the primacy of pinot noir among the red varieties suggests that its stablemate, chardonnay, enjoys the same favored status among the whites. Nothing could be further from the truth. Even though chardonnay ranks as the fifth most planted variety in the world—almost 200,000 hectares spread among countless winemaking nations—it’s monopolized by […]
The True Cost of Cheap Wine
Since everyone seems to be weighing in on the Bianca Bosker-Cork Dork controversy I’d like to add my own two cents. I’m a bit disappointed that we missed a great opportunity for constructive debate on several key issues, but I’m truly beside myself that what little discussion did take place turned frivolous with petty charges of wine snobbery and elitism. Crowded out […]
Parker Does Switzerland — The Wine Advocate Speaks: Part 2 — The Reds
Part 2 of “Parker Does Switzerland” is devoted to the nineteen red wines reviewed in common. They range from point noir to merlot with cornalin and syrah thrown in. Wine Advocate staff writer, Stephen Reinhardt, also reviews a rare gamay bio-type, Plant Robert—from there he goes on to incorrectly assert that gamay is only significant in Geneva. That’s big news to devotees […]
Parker Does Switzerland — The Wine Advocate Speaks: Part 1 — The Whites
The Robert Parker/Wine Advocate brand couldn’t have timed it any better. First, stir up the usually dignified Swiss wine community with a rare review of 200 or so of its wines, then time publication of the results to coincide with February’s “Matter of Taste” event in Zürich. Voilà, sold out event. Never mind that Parker […]
Opinion: Is It a Flower or a Root Day?
There isn’t much in social media, with the exception of international calamities and Donald Trump, to stir up the internet trolls as much as the subject of biodynamics. It’s as if the desire to improve soil health, the taste and quality of our food and how we interact with the earth is somehow a red […]
