Several months ago, I made the case there is too much Chasselas in Switzerland. My well-meaning rant was in response to a call from farmers for more government support for those with excess wine to sell—mostly, over-cropped Chasselas. Although I stand by my original thesis—that no one should subsidize inferior wine—I do want to make […]
Tag: La Cote
Domaine La Colombe “Curzilles” Vertical — 2016-2010
Silvio Jermann’s iconic Vintage Tunina may not have been the first field blend I ever tasted, but it was the first that made me aware of the term. I remember ordering a bottle in 1977 at the high-concept, Milan-inspired trattoria, Ciao, on Union Street in San Francisco. I think it was the first vintage—1975—but it […]
Domaine La Colombe: Pinot Gris “La Colombe Grise” Retrospective — 2015-2006
Back in the formative years of my professional career Pinot Gris was a life-jacketed castaway clinging to a barrel stave in the vast sea of wine. Its most significant presence was in Alsace, but even there it was treading water and a second fiddle to Riesling. Gewürztraminer was an afterthought and continues to flail close […]
A Wine of Note: Les Frères Dutruy (Founex, La Côte, Vaud)
Aligoté, Expression de Terroir 2015, Les Frères Dutruy, La Côte, Vaud Aligoté, for the most part, is a wine that deserves the scant attention it receives. In its ancestral home, the vineyards of Burgundy, it’s usually relegated to the poorer sites not worthy of chardonnay or pinot noir. Such indignities, and anemic aligotés from elsewhere, […]
Mondial du Chasselas: Les Palmarès 2017
Whatever you call it—the Super Bowl of chasselas, the World Cup of fendant or the NBA Finals of gutedel—make no mistake, this is the Grand Daddy of them all: the Mondial du Chasselas. Sporting analogies are particularly apropos in this, the year of the upset. Never one to flinch at competition, I answered the call […]
Profile: Domaine La Colombe (Féchy, La Côte, Vaud)
While Lavaux primps and preens for the camera, its sibling, La Côte, is quietly at work behind the scenes. With nearly three times the vines of Lavaux, La Côte receives only a fraction of the attention. It has no dramatic terraces to seduce camera-laden tourists and no Grand Cru AOC’s to offer them. Its languid vineyards flow gently […]
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 […]
Wine with Dinner: Randomly Chosen in May
Ready for Summer!! A little house-cleaning in May brought out these samples from the cellar. Don’t hesitate to search for and try the interesting French-American hybrid from Geneva and the stellar Mondeuse from Canton Vaud. Nothing like some juicy reds to finish off the month but first some white wines of note. Aligoté 2014, Domaine […]
Wine with Dinner: Randomly Chosen in April
Thanks! Many of the wines tasted this month were courtesy of François Gauthier, the congenial partner at the excellent wine merchant La Cave de Reverolle, who invited me to their annual spring release tasting in Morges. La Cave de Reverolle is a fantastic source for top-quality French and Italian labels and their Swiss portfolio is […]
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