A glass of wine is of course much more than its contents. It’s a place, its geography and geology, its history, its people. When you visit a small winery, you have a chance to hear about this. Last weekend I went to Colline de Daval in Sierre to learn a bit about distilling, of which […]
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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 […]
Sagrantino’s technical tamers
Third in a 4-part series How to make great wine despite astringent tannins If a wine has strong tannins, you cellar it until it becomes drinkable, right? That’s one step, but there is quite a lot more to getting a good wine from grapes with very strong tannins. Sicily’s Nero d’Avola is the grape I’ve […]
Sierre wine museum hike, expo
A quick note about an interesting option if you’re at the Vinea Wine Fair this weekend: a guided visit to the current exhibit is on offer at the Valais Wine Museum, next to the Chateau de Villa (whose excellent wine bar and raclette meals are always worth a visit). “Le vin au goût du jour” […]
A walk in Salgesch, Valais, in the rain
This was a very wet weekend in Switzerland, which meant I pretty much had the vineyards to myself, nice for photos as long as you don’t insist on sun in your images. This area is to the east (upriver side of the village) of the well-known Sierre-Salgesch vineyard trail, 6 km and 2.5 hours, that […]