GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The 72 finalists for the top awards at the Grand Prix du Vin Suisse (GPVS), the national wine awards have been announced. Wineries compete for six top slots in 12 wine categories, plus the title of Winery of the Year. The winners were named out of a field of 2,800 wines submitted […]
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Epesses winery joins Clos, Domaines & Châteaux
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Domaine Croix Duplex 6 May became the 25th member of the Clos, Domaines & Châteaux group of wineries in canton Vaud. The family winery midway up the slopes of Epesses above Grandvaux has been headed since 2012 by Simon and Maude Vogel, a brother-sister team who took over from their parents, Jean […]
Regional travel & wine: Switzerland’s surprising wines
Republished from GenevaLunch.com 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 […]
‘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. […]
Wine tasting, des Bulles et du Gamay (update)
First-ever bubbles & Gamay wine fair, a chance to sample fine sparkling wines from Switzerland, with caviar and chocolate – promises to be an excellent pre-holiday tasting warmup in Ouchy-Lausanne!
Here’s a review of some of the 80 Swiss sparkling wines I tasted Monday, including some of those offered at Saturday’s event, to help you get started.
A word about the Gamay part of this: it includes newer spinoff grape varieties Garanoir and Gamaret, both developed in Switzerland, often used in blends. Swiss Gamay wines can be excellent – les Frères Dutruy in Founex have a particularly good line. If you’re familiar with this grape mainly through Beaujolais, you’ll find here well-structured wines with a deeper colour where the fruit is still very present but with more complexity.