The weather has been clement, holidays are over, and out in the vineyards, the steady snip-snip of electric pruning clippers fills the air, now emptied of migratory birds gone south. I will go home to a fine oaked Syrah tonight, ready after four years maturing and bottle-cellared. First, though, a walk through the vines. The […]
Syrah
Swiss wine 2009 vintage report
10 years on, how well are these wines doing? The Mémoire des Vins Suisses has become so well known as a collection of some of the finest wine producers in Switzerland that it’s easy to forget the original idea behind the group was to create a bank of diverse Swiss wines with aging potential and […]
Valais “star” wine awards
The Etoiles du Valais wine awards were handed out 4 December in Bern to the wineries judged the best in the canton in 2019, each for a wine that features the canton’s native son grape varieties. Vintages were 2018 except for Syrah, Cornalin and Heidi, which benefit from more time, and these awards were for […]
How one man changed the wine profile of Valais
Wine education Switzerland hosts a number of educational classes, often with tastings, from schools and museums and various wine groups. They are a great way to learn more about the landscape of Swiss wines – the culture, history, heritage, geography and more. The 1001 lives of Dr Wuilloud Henry Wuilloud was the subject of an […]
Matter of taste 2019 walkabout, comparing wines
This was a walkabout tasting of fine wines that let me compare different Swiss wineries’ Pinot Noirs. It was also an opportunity to make other types of comparisons among wines that have been given at least 90 points by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate.