Welcome to the 21st century! Valpolicella was one of my first wines, along with Chianti, drunk with pizzas as a student in Milwaukee – the cheaper the better. You can’t really blame the Verona area, home to these wines, for my youthful folly in drinking some of the worst of its products. This was 40 […]
Wineries
Electus and Eclat, well on the road
“A vine adds leaves, then flowers, then grapes. But wine goes in the opposite direction, from the fruit back to the soil.” Damien Carruzzo, oenologist, Valais Mundi Provins made a daring gamble a decade ago and it is starting to pay off. Switzerland’s largest winery, the Valais cantonal cooperative, decided that as part of its […]
It’s Swiss wine awards time!
Grand Prix du Vin Suisse, Gault&Millau For Swiss wineries, the big awards of the year were handed out tonight in Bern, at the gala dinner that brings to a close the annual Grand Prix du Vin Suisse competition. There are some beauties here – you should not lack for interesting and very pleasing new wines […]
Recent wine fun, Best of Swiss Wine Tourism
Prologue: cycling, diplomats, wine in Spain I haven’t been writing here much lately. This summer has been devoted mainly to three things: renovating a garden, building up physical strength following three major orthopaedic surgeries in 15 months and working on a collection of essays and another of short stories. But there has been, happily, time […]
Organic wines: the high road to mainstream
Wine drinkers who are hunting for organic wines, slow down! These wines aren’t created overnight, but we have taken such a fancy to the idea of them in Europe, in such a short time, that the winemaking business barely has a chance to keep up. More organic wines, quality up, prices higher The number of […]