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 […]
Tag: Switzerland
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. […]
Wine with Dinner: Randomly Chosen in August
The End of Summer Approaches Another month is in the books and new experiences are ready to share. The August round-up focuses on Geneva which I'm told I don't pay enough attention to. I actually do have plans to profile a couple of Geneva producers so please stay tuned. Later this month my profiles of […]
Profile: Domaine de la Maison Carrée (Auvernier, Neuchâtel)
There is a special quiet to a traditional wine village at rest. No people, no sounds, no stress, and only meters from the past season’s slumbering wine behind the solid walls that line the street. For me, walking the streets is the perfect preparation for tasting. I call it calibrating the senses—listening carefully for the […]
The Return of a Bad, Bad Bug
After a one year hiatus the dreaded Drosophila Suzukii, or spotted-wing drosophila, is set to make a big return to Swiss vineyards in 2016. Early reports from Swiss cherry orchards are not encouraging with levels of drosophila infestation at the end of June matching the August highs from 2014, a particularly bad year (Agroscope Newsletter: […]
Wine with Dinner: Randomly Chosen in July
August is summer vacation month in Europe but there will be no let up on these pages. There’s always a lot of wine to taste, especially with the Weber grill at peak capacity, and wineries to visit. August will take me on a couple of excursions: first to Graubünden and Weinguts Donatsch and Adank in […]
Mondial du Chasselas: Les Palmarès 2016
Chasselas is about balance: Terroir, but not too much; Fruit, but not too much; Round and full, but not too much; Acidic, but not too much.—Stéphanie Delarze in Chasselas Forever The History While most of the world is content to eat chasselas out of hand the Swiss are hard at work transforming its golden-hued berries […]
An Honest Attempt to Debunk the Myth That Swiss Wine Is Expensive
It’s a familiar refrain: Swiss wine is too expensive, it won’t sell. Crooners of that song, including the eminent and influential Jancis Robinson, repeat it so often that most consider it axiomatic. Well, I’m here to say that nothing can be further from the truth—at least some of the time. The Set-up The best way […]
In Memoriam: Jacques Granges 1946-2016
Jacques Granges the iconic Pied Piper of biodynamics in Switzerland is dead following a tragic accident in his beloved vineyards above Fully. Monsieur Granges was known as an uncompromising champion of sustainable agriculture, worked tirelessly to improve the health and vitality of his soils and was an advocate for clean, minimally processed food and wine. […]
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