GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – You carry a name like Wallace and you’re bound to be interested in all things Scottish, so when you’re Wallace, the wine writer, and you see that someone north of Edinburgh is planting grapes, you’re all ears.

Bloomberg reports that Christopher Trotter, a food writer and chef, has planted 200 vines that are doing fine, apparently thanks to global warming. He is growing mainly Solaris, a sunny-sounding Germany grape variety created in 1975.

That’s almost worth a trip to Scotland, once he starts bottling.

My second bit of information is that he is considering using seashells to help keep the soil around the vines warm. I didn’t know Scotland’s seashells soaked up that much sun, or are found in such abundance you can scatter them at the foot of the vines.

The third bit of Scottish learning is a lovely new (for me) word: “wabbit” is not a cartoon word, but a nice old Scots one meaning under the weather.

Which is not how optimist Trotter feels, when considering his future wines, he says.

Three cheers for Scotland this week!