I’m always in awe of a commentator with enough grace and confidence to fairly describe a wine even when it’s not to their taste. It’s tough to do but rewarding when it happens. This inherently generous act alerts others who may find excitement in the eccentricities and beauty in the perceived shortcomings I might find. […]
Category: Wine
Heritage Grapes: A Return to Diversity
The 20th century trend toward monoculture and industrial farming has touched nearly all aspects of the agrarian economy including viticulture and the wine industry. Fortunately, the citations and figures below may represent a high water mark as the forces for agro-biodiversity gain momentum and start to chip away at these startling numbers. Out of around […]
Swiss Grapes: Plant Robert — A Tasting at the Cully Bazar
Even though it’s back from the brink, the grape known as Plant Robert remains endangered and little known. Absent a timely intervention it would have been lost decades ago to urban sprawl — in 1966 the last parcel in existence was condemned to make way for the A9 autoroute. Today its eight hectares are spread […]
Profile: Cru de l’Hôpital (Môtier, Fribourg)
The angelic mien and soft-spoken pitch of Christian Vessaz, winemaker and director of Cru de l’Hôpital in the village of Môtier, does not fully assuage a gut feeling I have that beneath the reserve are two frantically paddling feet—a not inappropriate image in this lakes region of the Swiss plateau. It also happens to be […]
Mémoire & Friends: Zürich 2016
This year marks an end to the collaboration between Zürich’s Kongresshaus and the Mémoire & Friends annual gathering. One of the city’s most iconic facilities is headed for a retrofit and remodel while event organizers scramble for a new home. As of this writing there is still no secured venue which, sadly, places next year’s […]
Wine with Dinner: Randomly Chosen in October 2016
Nature is clockwork. Just as the grape harvest wraps up in Switzerland the temperatures drop. Fall is here and it is in the air. By all accounts 2016 looks to be another excellent harvest with fine, dry weather until the tail end of the season when there was quite a bit of rain. By that […]
Opinion: Words Have Meaning (Especially Hugh Johnson’s)
A quote from a recently published interview in the Washington Post (Some Wine Writers Benefit From Aging, Too—October 22, 2016) struck a distressed chord with me but seems to have been accepted as incontrovertible elsewhere because of who said it. “Orange wines are a sideshow and a waste of time. What’s the point of experimenting? […]
Wine with Dinner: Randomly Chosen in September
A small group of wines for this month's Randomly Chosen feature shouldn't fool you into thinking there hasn't been a lot to drink—there has—just not enough of the good stuff. I'll try to remedy that on my trip to California in the beginning of October. In the meantime this coming month will feature my round-up […]
Profile: Weingut Familie Hansruedi Adank (Fläsch, Graubünden)
I don’t usually quibble with subjective “Best Of” lists but I’ve got to argue with this one. To omit the Adanks is something of a glaring oversight. If this was the 25 or 50 Best Vignerons in Switzerland list, then fine. But surely they are among the Top 100. Especially when some of the […]
Profile: Weingut Donatsch (Malans, Graubünden)
Back in the day when a young musician/vintner named Thomas Donatsch introduced oak barrels and chardonnay grapes to the cellars of Bündner Herrschaft he was considered a pariah. Nowadays, in the vernacular of the tech world, he would be celebrated as a disrupter. Such was the opprobrium he endured that fines and official censure followed. […]
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