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 […]
regions
Wine investors: drinkers and investors won during the financial crisis
There are two types of wine investors: those who buy wines they want to explore, and who set them aside for later when the sensory value will have increased, and those who buy, gambling that the price will rise neatly. The investors will either sell it or open the bottle when it is time to […]
Book and wine club for Swiss French wines
Alexandre Truffer, a young and excellent Swiss wine writer, is coming out with a book on the best wines from French-speaking Switzerland that will be available in bookstores 22 March – I’ll be carrying a review of Vins de suisse romande here next week, as I’m keen to see which are his favourites, but more […]
Terroir: getting down and dirty in Féchy
Soil is not just soil, believe me. Friday 12 June I had a chance to see something we normally only get to read about: the soil under the grapevines, one of the most basic elements of terroir. If at any point in your wine-drinking life you’ve pooh-poohed terroir as being an over-rated French notion, and […]