Winner of largest Swiss pumpkin Sunday, 2nd award in 1 week ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – The world’s largest pumpkin is a record-setting 953.5 kilos and it comes from canton Zurich. The new official heavyweight was named Sunday 5 October 2014 when a pumpkin from the Jucker farm in Zurich became the largest in the national Swiss […]
Harvesting grapes by machine
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The debate goes on: to harvest by hand or by machine. Some top-quality wine producers argue that machines just don’t cut it, that they are not as good at harvesting grapes as humans. Hand-crafted is undoubtedly always a good marketing line. But are consumers being bamboozled by it? Story continues below The […]
Geneva, Vaud consider laws requiring local wine
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Canton Geneva is toying with the idea of requiring restaurants to serve at least one local wine, ditto for canton Vaud. The local wine rule is being considered as part of revisions of ordinances covering the bar and restaurant industry. The proposed new legislation for Geneva moved out of committee and on […]
Droning their way to great grapes
Swiss vineyards take drones to new level GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Vineyards have been using drones regularly for aerial photography for some years, mainly in the US and Australia, but a Swiss pilot project is taking drones to new heights – not literally, but in terms of their technological prowess. This week a surprising Swiss trio […]
When are grapes ripe?
Adapted from Ellen’s Garden World, published 1 October 2014 The grape harvest has begun in Switzerland, but many of the best growers are holding off for a few more days. As the author of the first book in English on Swiss wines in 20 years (Vineglorious! Switzerland’s Wondrous World of Wines), I’m out in the […]