A recently published inventory of vines by the Office Cantonal de la Viticulture in Valais offers some perspective on where the canton stands in its effort to refocus on native varieties. The newest vine register provides a snapshot of the changes from 1991 to 2017. The first key takeaway is that the surface area dedicated to […]
Tag: Valais
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: Cave Caloz (Miège, Valais)
A recent visit to Miège was my first trip to the vineyards since the devastating frosts of late April. From all reports I expected worse but was still struck by the sheer randomness of it all. Spring began optimistically with an early bud break, courtesy of a lengthy and uncharacteristic warm spell, followed by an […]
A Wine of Note: Cave Caloz (Miège, Valais)
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 […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
A Wine of Note: Domaine Denis Mercier
Pinot Noir 2015, Anne-Catherine & Denis Mercier, Valais In a previous post—An Honest Attempt to Debunk the Myth That Swiss Wine Is Expensive—I argue that Switzerland may well offer the world’s best value for money proposition in pinot noir. Well, even before the ink is dry, I have a contender for the best pinot noir […]
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