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 […]
Petite Arvine
The many shades of Arvine: a tribute
Today has been a day for celebrating in Fully, canton Valais, the day when Spring and Petite Arvine are declared to be partners, and people turn their attention to this wonderful grape, one of Europe’s finest. Wineries invite special guests – last year saw several winemakers from Burgundy – the wine flows to keep up […]
Why sommeliers love a grab bag of wines
Many – most? – of us tend to repeat certain meals at home and we know what we like to drink with them – and now and again we try something a bit different. But home is about comfort and coziness, while dining out is about splashing out socially and emotionally, whether or not you […]
Parker Wine Advocate, latest notes on Swiss wines
The Swiss are still getting excited (Le Nouvelliste) about their wines being reviewed by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, the influential American newsletter. “Great Swiss wines you shouldn’t miss…” The latest batch of 167 reviews (available to subscribers) by Stephan Reinhardt, just out, is headed “Great Swiss wines you shouldn’t miss when you’re in Switzerland”, a […]
Hunting for great Arvines (Bern)
It’s hard to stay focused at a good wine fair. I went to Bern recently to visit Vinumrarum, an annual weekend wine fair for independent family wineries. I decided to focus on Petite Arvine wines. The more people who make this increasingly popular wine (Valais produced 1.9 million kg Arvine grapes in 2016, about 100,000 […]