Note: August 2022, move to Substack This is your point of reference for Swiss wines and the landscape that gives birth to them I’m a journalist and wine specialist who loves the broad landscape of Swiss wine, from its wines and vineyards to its extraordinary geography and rich cultural history. When I started to learn […]
Search Results for: Paccot
‘Tis the season, bring on the bubbly stuff!
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / AMONG THE VINES – A hard week at the office started with tasting 80 sparkling wines Monday, including a handful of French champagnes. Oddly, friends and family showed very little sympathy for a solid eight hours in front of my three tasting glasses, sitting in a large 15th century chateau in Neuchatel. […]
Biodynamic wines, slipping into the mainstream
New guide provides useful tool GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Organic wines, known as “bio” in French, and more particularly biodynamic wines, were long regarded suspiciously by many consumers, conjuring up vague (and not quite right) images of hippy wines made with animal horns and consumed with unpalatable brown rice. Those were the bad old days and […]
Regional travel & wine: Switzerland’s surprising wines
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Torches light the lovely 15th-century cobblestone courtyard, once a two- or three-hour carriage ride from Geneva. A hum of voices carries from an open cellar door where soft candlelight offers a glimpse of amphoras and barrels. Upstairs, in a renovated area of the old Grand’Cour château, Jean-Pierre Pellegrin describes what makes his […]
Regional travel & wine: French Jura
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – France’s Jura mountains are defined by deep, secret forests and rushing streams, so it is always a surprise to suddenly come upon snug villages edged by magnificent vineyards. Coming down into Arbois, there is such an abrupt change of scenery and state of mind that your arrival calls for a pause. A […]