As any athlete knows cross-training is one of the most effective ways to improve overall conditioning and performance, boost weight loss, and re-energize a stale exercise routine. It’s such a specialized niche that there are shoes designed to enhance each work-out, machines to provide a seamless transition from one activity to the next, and individual […]
Category: Tastings
The Last Man Standing — Domaine de Mucelle
It’s not everyday that a two hundred year old international treaty is invoked to settle modern customs and cross-border taxation issues, but France and Switzerland, or more specifically the Republic of Geneva, can break out The Treaty of Paris every now and then as an example. Article One, Section Three of the 1815 Treaty — […]
A Wine of Note: Domaine des Faverges, St-Saphorin, Vaud
2017 Chasselas, L’Énigme, Domaine des Faverges (St-Saphorin, Vaud) One of my favorite pastimes when researching a wine region is digging into the side stories — the whys and hows. For example, after tasting this wine and knowing nothing of the winery’s history, I wondered how the canton of Fribourg came to own property in the […]
Swiss Grapes: Grosse Arvine — One Man’s Mission
If you’ve ever entertained thoughts of resuscitating a barely breathing grape variety you may want to give Olivier Pittet a call. He’s a fine young man and a terrific winemaker who, in his spare time, lays it all on the line for a little known cultivar that may never be commercially viable. He will no […]
Les Trésors du Vin Suisse — Basel 2019
The Trésors tasting and its sister — the more inclusive Mémoire & Friends tasting — are my favorite events on the Swiss wine calendar. Both events reside under the Mémoire des Vins Suisses (MDVS) umbrella — a marketing-related non-profit founded and nurtured by a group of wine-loving journalists, producers and enthusiasts. Both tasting events, and the parties […]
Jungewinzer Im Rampenlicht — Young Swiss Winemakers in the Spotlight
Junge Schweiz Neue Winzer is a professional association of young (and new) Swiss winemakers dedicated to the free exchange of ideas and shared experiences. It also serves as support group (because change is never easy), promotional arm and globally-attuned tasting panel. While real change is often slow to take hold in Switzerland, it can be hastened […]
Ticino Wine Festival — 2019
It may surprise some that at 266,000 hectares, Merlot is the second most planted grape variety in the world. A substantial portion of that number (74,550 hectares) is found in Bordeaux alone. When you add in the rest of France—especially the south where it enjoys a sizable footprint—it doesn’t leave much for the rest of […]
Pinot Noir from the Bielersee — It Runs In the Family
Standing in the vineyards between Ligerz and Twann I often feel a little dreamy as I stare at the Bierlersee below and its signature landmark, St. Peter’s Island. From this vantage point I can only begin to imagine the serene isolation of someone living there alone, as the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau did for a short […]
Mondeuse: The Ghost of Grapes Past
The landscape of Swiss vineyards offered a more complicated puzzle in 1880 than it does today. Not only did viticulture suffer a massive decline during the decades of phylloxera infestation, it endured a mass migration from north to south and an alarming loss of diversity. First, some statistics. Zürich’s area under vine fell from 5,279 […]
Swiss Grapes: Plantscher, Blanchier, Bordeaux Blanc, Gros Bourgogne — Who’s Your Daddy?
The ancient Swiss variety, Plantscher (aka Blanchier, Gros Bourgogne or Bordeaux Blanc), is perhaps best known for having nothing to do with Burgundy or Bordeaux. In fact, it’s an off-spring of the Hungarian grape Furmint and its likely place of origin is Central Europe. What makes the Plantscher story particularly vexing (and ironic) is that […]
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