ELLEN’S WINE WORLD / SWISS WINES – White wine, Chasselas. Chandra Kurt is well known in German-speaking areas as the author of a number of wine books but in particular for her annual guide to supermarket wines.
She has been working with two of Switzerland’s largest winemakers to create collections of her own wines. The quality is reliably very good and while I like the first collection, developed with Provins in Valais, I love the first bottle I tried from her new collection, a Vaud Chasselas. She and Bolles, in Morges, have developed a set of four Chasselas wines; in 2014 she has a book coming out about Chasselas, Switzerland’s famous white wine grape.
I began with no. 2, from Yvorne – no. 1 is from Luins and I’ll try that next week. I’ve recently had a number of good Yvorne Chasselas wines, and am convinced that some of the best come from this village at the extreme eastern end of Vaud. This one is remarkable for doing what the best wines do: after enchanting you with its nose, it keeps going, in your mouth – an unfolding sensory performance.
Notes: A touch of lime, white flowers; in mouth a hint of the flintiness of Yvorne terroirs but more rounded than many, a touch of honey. Suggested serving temperature is 8-10C and do respect this for the wine to give its best. We started at 12C, having forgotten that the wine wasn’t in our cellar before we drank it, and it improved with cooling to 9C.
Grape variety: Chasselas from Yvorne, Vaud
Where I enjoyed this: At home, relaxing with good company over cheese and crackers. Had I realized that this is a richer wine than many Chasselas, while still dry and crisp, I would have kept it for a grilled fish and garden brocolli stir-fried with garlic. I’ll have to get another bottle!
Sample price: CHF21, online price from Kurt
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