Syrah, Les Bernunes 2015, Cave Caloz, Valais If not for a recent Côte-Rôtie tasting and roadshow in Geneva I might have skipped over this little gem from the other “roasted slope” above Sierre in Valais. To be honest, syrah tends to be invisible. It’s usually presented in an off-handed way or as an afterthought when there […]
Category: Wine
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. 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 […]
Opinion: 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 […]
Swiss Grapes: Salvagnin or Servagnin — Which Is It?
There’s almost never a thought given to the rare benefits of the Black Death pandemic of the Middle Ages but the existence of Servagnin de Morges is one of them. The story begins more than 600 years ago in France with one of the most consequential edicts in wine history: (The Duke of Burgundy) Philip the […]
Profile: Weinbau Markus Ruch (Neunkirch, Schaffhausen)
There’s no easy way to shake things up in conservative rural Switzerland. Take the wine business, for example, and the plight of Markus Ruch. Some nonplussed locals have asked how a newcomer has the nerve to charge more for his wine than do legacy wineries. Other local skeptics want to know why he plumps for biodynamics when conventional agriculture works just fine. Still others wonder why he does women’s work by […]
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 with these pages. 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 […]
Profile: La Maison du Moulin (Coinsins, La Côte, Vaud)
It’s three weeks into the new year and the weather is already historic—the coldest January in 30 years—and on this day it’s even colder with bone-numbing winds. Fortunately the family car is equipped with new snow tires, 4-wheel drive and GPS. All three are necessary with La Bise Noire in full fury and snow drifts obliterating […]
Opinion: Is It a Flower or a Root Day?
There isn’t much in wine-related social media 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 state, blue state thing. The latest Twitter kerfuffle […]
A Brief Chat About Natural Wine with Jérôme Aké Beda
Recently I spoke with one of Switzerland’s great wine professionals, Jérôme Aké Beda. Not only is he co-proprietor of the highly regarded Auberge de l’Onde in Saint-Saphorin, he is also its Maître d’Hôtel, sommelier and resident wine philosopher. He was named Gault & Millau’s Best Sommelier in Switzerland in 2015 and he is co-author, with […]
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