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 […]
Montreux
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 […]
Arvinis moves to Montreux
MORGES, SWITZERLAND – Arvinis, a major wine fair held in Morges every April since 1996, is moving to Montreux as of spring 2017. The event, scheduled for 26 April to 1 May, will be held at the 2m2c centre, a five-minute walk from the Montreux train station. The fair pulls in more than 20,000 people […]
Three days judging Pinot wines: the album
Getting back to wine work for me meant a weekend with three days of wine judging in Sierre, canton Valais, at the Mondial des Pinots. Pinot Noirs, of course, but we also judged rosés and blanc de Pinots, as well as Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris wines. In addition to judging we were taken on […]
How to learn French in a hurry: drink Swiss wine
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – I’ve been following Ta-Nehisi Coates’s rollercoaster ride to speaking perfect French – he writes for The Atlantic, and I’m an old fan of the magazine. I suddenly realized he was going to be spending four days in Montreux, a serious crash course to maitriser la langue even though my sense of Montreux […]