People have been telling me that 2017 was a very good year for most Swiss wines and last night I rushed around (not ideal, but …leave yourself more time than I did) tasting some of them at Arvinis in Montreux. They were consistently good, complex and fresh and very promising. Keep in mind that most […]
Wineries
Arvinis addendum: Cave Rodaline’s trio
Arvinis in Montreux, Wednesday evening: I visited Cave Rodaline’s stand to do a comparative tasting of their three terroir Petite Arvine wines, which I’ve wanted to do since my Combe d’Enfer hike in March among their vines, above Fully in Valais. This is a great way to understand how a producer can make different Petite Arvines […]
The many shades of Arvine: a tribute
Today has been a day for celebrating in Fully, canton Valais, the day when Spring and Petite Arvine are declared to be partners, and people turn their attention to this wonderful grape, one of Europe’s finest. Wineries invite special guests – last year saw several winemakers from Burgundy – the wine flows to keep up […]
Rare grapes, do we love their wines?
What do rare wines from old and new grapes taste like, and should we love them? See also: The strange world of rare grapes Discovery wines Serge Heymoz of Cave les Sentes sums up my feeling for many of the old varieties I’ve tasted, when he speaks of Rèze, a wine that has been around […]
The strange world of rare grapes
Why would you drink wine from grapes you’ve never heard of unless you’re on your honeymoon or an exotic vacation? Just when you thought you were starting to understand wine because you could rattle off the names of a few grape varieties and even briefly describe the kind of wines they give, someone gets excited […]