Morges, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Arvinis has made overtures to English-speaking winelovers in the past, but this is the year when the region’s major wine event, one of the largest in the country, opens its doors wide to the local international population. The web site is now in English and the special events include a Sunday evening wine tasting course in English.

Arvinis brought 22,000 visitors to Morges in 2010 and is expected to at least equal that this year. The April wine fair runs every year about the same time as the sudden flowering of the 100,000 tulips for which the park in Morges is famous. The wine fair offers an opportunity to sample the newly bottled white wines from 2010 and recently bottled reds from 2009, for the first time.

The Pays d’Oc is the guest this year, and they are bringing along an interesting collection of wines to sample. I’ll be reviewing these here before Arvinis opens. The region has put the accent on varietal wines, showcasing a number of grape varieties. There are some excellent surprises on offer.

Swiss 2010 was a terrific year

I have tasted a number of 2010 wines, barely into the bottle, in recent weeks, from Geneva to Vaud and, last week, in Graubuenden. The wine industry’s enthusiastic promise that 2010 is not a letdown after the excellent 2009 is right on target: there are a lot of beautiful wines from last year! Weather conditions were just right to create wines of interest, sometimes less rich than 2009, but generally it was a year that allowed the terroirs to come through well for the whites and that allowed the reds to develop good intensity in many parts of the country.

Introductory winetasting class in English

Sunday evening, Rodrigo Banto will be offering an introduction to wine tasting, in English. Registration in advance is a must: CHF35. I’ve met Banto on several occasions and his English is very good, his knowledge of wine excellent. He is the oenologist at Uvavins, one of the region’s largest wineries, a cooperative of some 400 producers, which has an well-deserved reputation for producing some top wines and an overall good mix.

Arvinis, details

• dates: 13-18 April
• hours: 16:00-22:00 during the week, Saturday 11:00-22:00 and Sunday 11:00-20:00
• location: next to the train station in Morges
• entry: 2,500 wines for CHF30 or CHF60 for the six days, if you’re going about this seriously. Visa, Master Card and Post Finance cards accepted.

Use public transport! It’s easy, there are plenty of options and you can avoid drinking and driving.