GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / EDITOR’S NOTEPAD – Journalists beware: the annual Mercer rankings for expensive cities came out Wednesday, but this year the arrival of Chinese and other Asian cities underlines the serious mistake of giving the figures credence, for readers at large. The numbers are meaningless, unless you have a fat corporation behind you when […]
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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 […]
Spain’s Grandes Pagos come to town
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A group of Spanish producers who form the Grandes Pagos de España association showed off some of their wines this week in Switzerland – in Zurich, Lausanne and Geneva. Some 20 members provided a nice contrast to the big industrial-style estates, a reminder that Spain has some beautiful wines being made at […]
Merlot primer
The Mondial du Merlot world wine competition takes place this weekend in Sierre, canton Valais, and I’ll be taking part as a judge. Earlier today I was interviewed by WRS radio in Geneva about this grape and its wines, canton Ticino’s specialty. I mentioned a few wines on the show and promised to provide their […]
Swiss news: tourism up, inflation down, record khat haul
Foreign tourist stays up 3.8% BERN, SWITZERLAND – Swiss federal authorities say tourism rose 6 percent in February compared to a year earlier. The latest figures ease some fears about the immediate impact of the higher Swiss franc on the ski season. The month had an additional 176,000 overnight stays, of which foreign demand was […]