Wine

The viticulture of Switzerland is recognised to go back more than 2000 years. Numerous grape varieties are grown for wine productions. Some are indigenous, whilst others are also found internationally. High-quality Swiss wines continue to receive many awards and are increasing in popularity, globally. For this quest I searched for Pinot Noir wines from Switzerland.

By Stephan Rheinhardt. To access the detailed notes and ratings you must subscribe to The Wine Advocate www.robertparker.com

The Grand Resort Bad Ragaz (GRBR), a super luxury Wellbeing & Medical Health Resort in the hot springs village of Bad Ragaz is a dream destination for the health conscious affluent for a relaxed sojourn, where there is also ample opportunity to taste a wide range of Swiss and foreign wines pa

Discreet and delicate but nevertheless distinct – “It is the wine closest to nothingness that I have ever tasted”, says writer Katsuyuki Tanaka.

LONDON – The Institute of Masters of Wine (IMW) is pleased to announce Swiss Wine has become a Supporter of the Institute.

In June 2007, following the first Grand Prix du Vin Suisse tasting, organised by Vinum and Vinea in Sierre, I was frustrated. The French Swiss had very different ideas than the German speaking about what a good wine was. I was even wondering if such a Grand Prix made sense. Ten years later...

One bright October afternoon two days before harvest, Swiss winemaker Blaise Duboux chucked a fallen quince over the iron fence girding his terrace and into the sloping vineyard next door. It should have easily rolled 600 precipitous feet down to shimmering Lake Geneva, plied by stately steamers and backdropped by the snowcapped French Alps across the water. But some 40 levels of terraces staircase the hillside, intervening.

The Mid-Autumn Festival in China celebrates the harvest time. For chinese people, this event is almost as important as the Chinese New Year, it also is the second most important holiday of the year. On this occasion Philippe Huser, owner of Napa Wine Bar in Shanghai, shipped 6000 bottles of Swiss wine which will be proposed to his customers on the Bund. 

As beach season draws to a close (today, September 23rd, is the Fall Equinox, not Labor Day), I want to address a global wine-related epidemic that hits its zenith in summer. Throughout July and August, I visited several white wine producing regions in Oregon, Germany, and Switzerland (the Swiss not only make wine, but I’d argue it’s better than their chocolate and more affordable than their watches). With each vintner visit, our discussion of their carefully crafted whites and demand for their latest vintages inevitably led to the following conclusion: Consumers are sucking them down long before they should be opened. In other words, we drink white wine too young.

Wine is the most ancient documented man-made medicine; as far back as 2200 BC, tablets from Sumerian culture and papyri from Ancient Egypt describe recipes for wine-based medicines. For many centuries, faced with the lack of safe drinking water, wine was recommended as a alternative. It was also prescribed as an antiseptic for treating wounds, a digestive aid and a cure for a wide range of ailments from lethargy and diarrhoea to easing the pain of childbirth.