Visiting Swiss wineries lets you see the villages, the vineyards and meet the workers. Here, destalking 15 May 2012 at Domaine La Capitaine, Begnins, Vaud

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Swiss cantons are becoming increasingly organized and coordinating their work for the cantonal wineries’ open house days. The same basic tips apply for visiting all of them:

Your starting point should be the GenevaLunch news story on the event (search name of canton + wineries open house). The open houses are designed to make it easier for the public to meet the country’s wines and the people behind them. It’s a great way to learn about Switzerland’s often excellent local wines while seeing some of the world’s most beautiful scenery. I try to make suggestions for types of wineries you might want to visit, from ones with great views to ones with sublime wines.

You’ll get the most out of the visits if a) you spit out the wine after you’ve tasted it, in the small buckets provided for this and b) you ask questions, without worrying that you sound like you know nothing.

How to decide what wineries to visit, how to get there

Select the village(s) you want to visit, based on how you’re planning to get around. The advantage of having a car is that you can buy and pack bottles in the car as you go. The disadvantage is that even if you spit out the wine most of the time, strongly recommended, you have to be careful about the amount you consume: Switzerland’s legal limit is 0.5, the equivalent of one small glass of wine (please note that it was recently incorrectly reported on a radio programme to be 0.8).

Most wineries will ship to you, with next-day service via the post office. This means that if you’re using one of the shuttle options you can carry home that one bottle you think you must have for dinner and leave the rest to show up later in the post. Wineries’ policies vary, but the shipping cost is not high and if you buy more than 6 or 12 the postage is often free or discounted.

Check for CFF Railaway offers . In Vaud, for example: 20 percent off to get there and back, another 20 percent off on the Mobilis regional public transport system and  20 percent off for the CHF15 “passport” glass that gets you in to all the wineries.

The tasting process, from white to red as a general rule

A good general rule is to start with whites and move on to reds. So how do you do this when you’re visiting several wineries? My approach is to select, for example, three wineries whose white wines I particularly want to try, then six whose reds interest me. I allow 30-45 minutes per winery, which gives me a chance to taste the wines, ask other visitors what they like and why, talk to the owners – and relax a bit. This means that I can realistically fit in three in a morning, take time out for lunch and do another three in the afternoon. Or two, lunch and four post-lunch.

Village restaurants are one option for lunch, with several offering special Open days menus, and several of the wineries offer meals. Keep in mind that many of the wineries also offer excellent snacks, so some people simply snack their way through the day!

The fun of these open days lies in exploring and visiting new places, so be adventurous. You won’t always find wines that are magical, but you’ll learn while looking for them and there are enough world-class wines from Switzerland for you to easily find some real treasures.

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A rare vintage 1774 bottle of 87 cl of vin jaune from Arbois, France, near the Swiss border, sold for CHF46,000 Tuesday 15 May at Christie’s auction of fine wines in Geneva.

The winning bid was made via Internet to an unnamed European trade buyer, so it will be hard to wangle an invitation for the day the bottle is opened, assuming it isn’t just stored for another 100-200 years.

Just in case, here’s the per glass price: CHF5,287 for a one decilitre glass, something to keep in mind as the glass is raised.

Make that CHF529 per sip, if  you work out 10 small sips to the deci. Here’s what you should get, according to Christie’s: “No label. Registered in the cellar book of Pierre Millet since 1774. Superb lightly ambered colour. Shrunk and fragile cork.” Also see my earlier article on this bottle.

I joined the bidders Tuesday in the lush auction room at Hotel des Bergues, but I didn’t carry a bidding card. There were only about 20 of us, with a bank of staff taking online and telephone bids.

I almost regretted my common sense in not picking up a card, as some of the wines were almost affordable. I briefly toyed with the idea of bidding on 15 lesser bottles of 1988 Bordeaux, with the group to be had for under CHF1,000, a steal compared to the winning bids my auction seat neighbour, an elegant blond gentleman, was paying for his numerous Château Lafite-Rothschilds.

Here’s what I would have bid on, thinking it was  maybe in my budget: Château Pavie, vintage 1988 with levels of 8 base of neck and 1 top of shoulder. Château Cos d’Estournel, vintage 1988, three into neck and one base of neck. Château Ducru Beaucaillou, vintage 1988, 2 with levels base of neck.

The lot was estimated at CHF700-900. The level of the bottle matters when you’re calculating the price per sip. The condition of burgundies suffers less than Bordeaux wines from what is known as the change in  “ullage”, or the space that isn’t filled (vindange in French) of a bottle over time.

My neighbour had a classier look than the retailers who also bid in Geneva to fill gaps in their store holdings. He was several levels upmarket from my fantasy budget.

"And it goes to ...", wine auctioneer Michael Ganne at Christie's 15 May

A quiet lift of his card and the first Lafite-Rothschild, vintage 1982, went his way. A bit tatty, with a torn label and top-shoulder, but he got a deal: CHF2,400 for the one bottle, when the pre-sale estimate was CHF2,800-3,400. Nice.

Then he went on a roll, first with 12 bottles of Mouton-Rothschild 1988 for CHF3,000, then Lafite-Rothschild 2002, 6 magnums for CHF6,500 and 12 bottles for CHF7,000. Another CHF19,000 on 12bottles and 6 magnums of the 2003. After that I lost track of what he was spending. I decided it was too much for one man’s cellar, so he is probably a buyer who resells to private and corporate customers who feel safe getting big-name wines from him.

The most impressive sale of the day was a lot of 1945 Mouton-Rothschild that went for 2.5 times its estimated value: CHF161,000 rather than the pre-sale starting figure of CHF65,000.

An alternative, if we’re looking for expensive sips, is the 1921 Château Y’quem that went for a mere CHF25,300 for 3 bottles, which makes a sip about half the price of that of the 1774 vin jaune. Two of the bottles were recorked at the chateau in 1989 and the other in 1992.

Here is just part of the description from Michael Broadbent in 2006:

“Very pronounced warm amber; bouquet of soft toasted demarara sugar and coffee; medium-sweet, dry finish. Glorious. Most recently, probably the best-ever.” He then describes its beautiful appearance and returns to the aromas: “Its bouquet both easy and, in truth, difficult to do justice to; the anticipated crème brulé, old apricots, honeyed, whiff of caramel and unplumbable depth medium-sweet, drying out a little after 85 years, gloriously rich, intense and persistent flavour, perfecct sustaining acidity and lingering aftertaste. Sheer perfection.”

I do hope someone opens it and enjoys it soon.

Note: Christie’s in 2010 published an account of a day in the life of Michael Ganne, wine auctioneer, inspecting the wine cellar of a connaisseur in canton Valais, great fun to read.

Enjoying a wine tasting moment with Sophie Dugerdil

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Thousands of visitors to Geneva’s wineries for the annual open house day today will be welcomed with glasses from a very fine harvest. The 2011 vintage wines were presented officially a week earlier to invited guests of Opage, the cantonal agricultural office. The evening was off to a good start: the event was hosted by the International Museum of the Reformation and its director, Isabelle Graesslé, opened the speeches with a chuckle, saying that she found it quite funny for Calvin to be welcoming Geneva’s wine producers.

She then waxed poetic about how much she has always loved to “se rustiquer” in the springtime, heading out from the city centre “to one of the nearby wine villages for a lovely fresh fish with a cool glass of white wine”.

The wines presented were marked by three features: wineries are presenting a larger number of grape varieties including several rarely seen in Switzerland, many of the wines are exceptionally well-structured because they are not as rich and have better acidity than 2010 wines, and a wonderful crop of young wine producers suddenly appears to be making their mark.

New generation showing off its talent

Geneva’s now long-gone reputation for making uninteresting little wines is in no danger of coming back, with the new generation at the helm. The canton went through a rough patch in the 1970s and 1980s when several growers, who had previously just supplied grapes to wineries, turned to making wine themselves. Some succeeded brilliantly, but others were mediocre and their wines did little for the canton’s name, despite some excellent producers making world-class wines.

The situation is now well under control, with the market pushing out most of those whose wines were, frankly, not very good. The new generation is well-trained, often well-traveled, not afraid to experiment but with the know-how to do so intelligently, and it appears to have set its standards high, judging by the new wines. Women oenologists are now taking the reins from their fathers or are part of a couple producing the wine in at least half of the wineries listed below.

What to expect at the winery open houses

This open house day will show off the 2011 vintage for wines that have not been oaked, with some of them so newly bottled the producers haven’t had time to label them. And 2010 wines that have spent up to a year in wood will be part of the day’s treats.

Notes on the 2011 harvest and vintage: a perfect year, with early flowering, a hot July followed by a hot, dry autumn with harvesting lasting from early September to late October with optimal conditions. Fermentation: good quality, quick. The white wines are particularly notable for their expressive noses, with very good structure supporting the aromas. The reds are  notable for the presence of silky tannins.

Tip for exploring the area: if you spot a thick map called “Le Compagnon” 2012 published by terre-avenir.ch, which is part of Opage, grab it! It’s a wonderful map to all the regional products in canton Geneva, but it’s also the most useful map for touring the vineyards. A precious find!

Sampling Geneva's new wines with fellow wine writer Christian

How to visit Geneva’s open winery day, published 2010 but tips are still valid.

Note that several wineries are also open this Sunday 13 May, as a Mother’s Day treat.

Ellen’s Wine World favourites (check out the Facebook page). For another review, see remarks from a fellow wine judge who writes about Geneva’s wines in French, vins-geneve.ch

Here were my top 10 picks from the official presentation (not ranked), where I concentrated on white wines, and made a small tour of the reds at the end:

1. Pinot Blanc Réserve de la Commune de Cologny 2011, Domaine de la Vigne Blanche, Cologny, well structured, rich; father Roger Meylan’s daughter Sarah is putting her stamp on these wines (CHF13)
2. Aligoté de Peissy 2010, Les Perrières, Peissy, a great wine for aperitifs, well-balanced good acidity, fine delicate aromas (CHF12)
3. Sauvignon Blanc 2010, Domaine des Faunes, Dardagny, typical notes of citrus and grapefruit but less apparent aromas than some of the other Sauvignon Blancs, rich and less acidic than some (a point in its favour): “Sauvignon Blanc is so exuberant you have to keep it in check for good quality” (price N/A)
4. Scheureube 2010, SYD/ Stephane Dupraz, Soral, one of the more unusual grape varieties here, from a Riesling and wild grape crossing: very aromatic and nose could be confused with a Muscat at first (think grapes!), wonderful acidity, would be perfect with asparagus and since this is now in season, stock up! (CHF15)
5. Kerner de Genève 2010, Domaine Les Abeilles d’Or, Chouilly, another close kin of Riesling, an interesting vertical tasting of 2009, 2010 and 2011: beautiful nose of violets, a wine with great finesse (CHF19.20)
6. Le Sybillus 2010, La Printaniere, by vineyard that used to do only single grape (varietal) wines, but as they shrink their yields for quality, they have moved into doing blends, says Frederic Dugerdil, and this is a fine example of the new venture: 70% Sylvaner Riesling, 30% Sauvignon Blanc. (price, N/A)
7. Chasselas, Domaine du Molards, Russin (open Sunday 13 May): very aromatic with more minerality than one generally expects from Geneva’s Chasselas wines (Vaud’s are famously mineral and Geneva’s are traditionally richer, more floral): beautiful in mouth. Papa is a grape variety fan and the winery has a small museum and an extraordinary collection of 26 grape varieties for the sheer pleasure of it. (CHF9.00)
8. Findling, Les Grisling Blanc, Domaine de Charmes, Satigny: beautiful nose of that aroma I personally always have trouble identifying (I grew up in Iowa where we didn’t have these delicate peaches), pêche de vigne. Elegant wine. (CHF12.50) At this point I moved to the reds and this winery’s Merlot 2010 is a beauty, smooth and silky tannins, a great example of how well Geneva can now grow this grape, giving Ticino a run for its money.
9. Gamay 2010, Domaine Dugerdil, Dardagny: fruity nose with typical red fruit notes but enlivened by pepper and spice notes, very straight and clean, an elegant version that is one of Geneva’s best examples of this grape variety, with Sophie Dugerdil’s signature (CHF11.50)
10. Gamay, Briva, Domaine Les Hutins, dardagny, fruity nose, another elegant version of this varietal, and great fun to compare it with the previous year’s oaked Gamay, from one of my favourite wineries in the canton. (price N/A)

Geneva wineries open house day celebrates its 25th year

Winey open house day is 12 May, Saturday, in canton Geneva: 90 wineries for CHF5!

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Geneva’s Caves Ouvertes, or winery open house day, has good reason to celebrate this year. It is the 25th year of the event and in that short time it has gone from a handful of visitors in 1987 to an estimated 20,000 last year.

The canton pioneered the concept of producers opening wide their doors and inviting in the public to learn more about the canton’s wines, and now others are successfully following suit.

Geneva has 90 wineries, virtually all of them, taking part this year, giving a wealth of options to wine-lovers and anyone who simply wants to explore the region’s wines.

Expect to be introduced to the 2011 vintage, an excellent year, and to meet 2010 wines that have been oaked for several months, all bottled within the last few days or weeks. New this year: a CHF5 souvenir glass that visitors can use, an effort to provide a good solution to the problem of keeping enough clean glasses on hand and to reduce breakages.

The canton has three main wine regions, all in the countryside, but just at the door of the city. The best-known, the Mandemant, lies just beyond Meyrin and includes the villages of Satigny, Russin and Dardagny. The area between the Arve and Rhone rivers includes Lully, Bernex and Soral. The Arve and Lake area covers Jussy, Anieres and Gy.

The TPG pubic transport system in Geneva is participating again this year by providing free shuttle buses, a good idea considering that the alcohol limit for drivers is one (small) glass of wine.

Map of Geneva’s wineries

Terrific Terroir, free marketing magazine produced by the canton’s agricultural office, with tips for visiting wineries. Note: a print version is also available from Geneva Tourism, the Pont-de-la-Machine Information Arcade, the Geneva Welcome Centre, the UN Kiosk and OffTheShelf English Bookshop

Review of the new Geneva wines presented officially last week

Clos de la George, Yvorne, Caves Hammel

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – I have nothing but praise for Vaud’s 11 new Premiers Grands Crus collection, the first in what promises to be a growing list of some of Switzreland’s finest wines. They were presented to the world Tuesday evening in Lausanne, first to the press, then in the more formal setting of the canton’s parliamentary chambers, with the opportunity for guests to sample them afterwards. To a one, these are beautiful wines.

First, a word of explanation: Switzerland’s appellation system underwent a significant revision that led to a new list of classifications in July 2011. The country’s 80 AOC wines indicate the region, with just two cantons, Neuchatel and Geneva, having more than 20 each Other cantons reduced the number of AOC regions so Vaud, for example, now has 7.

The AOC designation is useful for shoppers because it includes some quality criteria. But a region’s great wines, and Switzerland has many, traditionally gain their reputation by word of mouth. This worked in an older, more inward-looking Switzerland of the past, but today consumers expect standards that help them compare products. Groups of producers in a number of smaller regions have banded together to agree on Grand Cru standards and these, today, give us superb wines from Salgesch and Vétroz in Valais and Dézaley in Vaud, for example.

Now canton Vaud’s producers have taken this a step further and created standards and a system for awarding Premier Grand Cru status to top wines that qualify. The project has been 15 years in the making, working its way through a typically Swiss political labyrinth of multiple consultations at every level.

Five essential selection criteria are used:

Time and history are important

A domain’s history and know-how are key. These wines develop, with age, a harmonious texture, intense and persistent aromas that make them excellent wines for aging.

Demanding cultivation requirements

The first Premiers Grands Crus will be limited to wines from Chasselas, Pinot Noir and Gamay grapes. Integrated production or organic standards must be followed, with no more than 6,000 vines per hectare to encourage their roots to grow deep, giving the wines complexity as a result. Vines must be at least 7 years old and the yield is limited to 0.8 litres per square metre for Chasselas, 0.64l/m2 for the reds.

Harvesting by hand

This allows grapes to be picked at optimal maturity, through careful selection. Chasselas grapes must have a sugar level at least 75 œchslé, with 80 required for Gamay and 85 for Pinot Noir (Ed. note: I’ll be writing about this shortly for those who aren’t familiar with the œchslé system).

Very special terroir

The Premier Grand Cru label is a guarantee that the wine comes entirely from one terroir, and Vaud’s unusual new system of continually checking and verifying, every year (this isn’t done everywhere in Bordeaux and Burgundy, for example), ensures that cozy relations without regular checks don’t allow wines whose quality may slip to remain in the group. Vaud has a wonderful range of soils and the wines reflect these terroirs, particularly remarkable for the minerality they provide.

Consistently excellent wine over time

One fine bottle of wine does not a Premier Grand Cru make. Once a proposed wine is accepted by the Commission des Premiers Grands Crus for consideration, it must be tasted and vines visited for each vintage.

A note on the first wines selected

The first wines selected are all Chasselas whites, but the commission notes that several more wines are in the pipeline. My two  personal favourites Tuesday evening were Clos de la George from Yvorne and its neighbour, L-Ovaille 1584, but the standard was so high that it is difficult to really cite favourites. What I liked best about the first is its beautiful nose of gunflint; if you have trouble recognizing this smell, here is a wine to learn by. I also found notes of cedar and apricot, making this a wine with a sharp nose that is very exciting. In mouth, almonds and dried fruits. This is a truly elegant wine.

L’Ovaille 1584 offers a rich mix for the nose, floral but with fruits and hazelnut. But it’s real joy is in mouth: rich yet mineral but with a finish that is extraordinarily long and complex, thanks to the time it spends in amphores.

These vines sit opposite the Dents du Midi peaks and soak up the sun from morning to night, clearly taking the best from nature.

A wine I didn’t have a chance to taste properly but which I enjoyed a sip of is the newcomer (not yet on the new web site), Domaine de Capitaine’s Agénor Parmelin, worth exploring further.

The list of Premiers Grands Crus in the first selection, 8 May 2012

-       Château de Chardonn, Chardonne

-       Château Châtagneréaz, Mont-sur-Rolle

-       Domaine de Autecou, Mont-sur-Rolle

-       Domaine des Cordelière, Mont-sur-Rolle

-       Château de Mon, Mont-sur-Rolle

-       Domaine de Fische, Bougy-Villars

-       Clos du Châtelar, Villeneuve

-       Clos de la George, Yvorne

-       L’Ovaille 158, Yvorne

-       L’Ovaill, Yvorne

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Valais wines took 15 medals, 10 percent of the total, at the Syrah du Monde competition at Château d’Ampuis, France. One gold medal went to the Gregor Kuonen winery in Salgesch/Salquenen and silver medals went to 14 other wines, with 11 wineries given medals. Of the 445 wines entered, 149 were given gold, silver or bronze medals. The countries of origin for the top 10 wines (actually 14 because of ties), based on the number of points: South Africa, Australia, France, Chile and Portugal.

All but four of the wines are oaked. The winners and their wines:

Valais AOC Sélection J’François Kuonen 2010 GREGOR KUONEN – CAVEAU DE SALQUENEN Mr KUONEN  François Web Site
	Syrah du Valais “Classique” 2009 Domaine DES MUSES SA Mr TARAMARCAZ  Robert Web Site
	Barrel Valais AOC – Tonneliers Syrah 2010 ROBERT GILLIARD SA Mme DURUZ  Monique Web Site
	Barrel Syrah du Valais “Madame de” 2010 DOMAINE DU MONT D’OR SA – SION Mr LAMBIEL  Simon Web Site
	Barrel Martigny AOC Syrah – Les Serpentines 2009 CAVE GERALD ET PATRICIA BESSE Web Site
	Barrel Valais AOC “Collection F” Syrah 2009 LES FILS DE CHARLES FAVRE SA Mr WALPEN  Patrice Web Site
	Barrel Valais AOC Syrah Elevé en Barriques 2010 CAVE LA MADELEINE Mr FONTANNAZ  André Web Site
	Barrel Valais AOC Grandmaître Syrah 2011 GREGOR KUONEN – CAVEAU DE SALQUENEN Mr KUONEN  François Web Site
	Barrel Valais AOC Grandmaître Syrah 2010 GREGOR KUONEN – CAVEAU DE SALQUENEN Mr KUONEN  François Web Site
	Barrel Valais AOC Syrah Réserve 2009 Domaine DES MUSES SA Mr TARAMARCAZ  Robert Web Site
	Valais AOC Les Larmes d’Héraclès Syrah 2011 SA CAVE EMERY Mr EMERY  Louis Bernard Web Site
	Valais AOC Primus Classicus Syrah 2011 CAVES ORSAT SA SALAMIN  Christian Web Site
	Barrel Valais AOC Syrah Fût de Chêne 2010 DUBUIS et RUDAZ Mr DUBUIS  Philippe Web Site
	Barrel Valais AOC Clos Combe d’Uvrier 2009 PHILIPPE VARONE VINS SA Web Site
	Valais AOC Syrah 2011 KELLEREI LEUKERSONNE Mr SEEWER  Jorg Web Site

There's much in a name, when it comes to wine, and Swiss AOCs are now protected within the European Union, without having to include the origin

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Current Swiss regulations governing names of wines and spirits are now covered by the bilateral treaty with the European Union. Amendments to annexes 7 and 8, which list all legal names for products in the two categories, were revised with effect from 4 May.

The main change, but it is a significant one, is that a name is now protected whether or not its location of origin is mentioned.

Bern offers the example of what would in the past have required registration as Damassine d’Ajoie but which under the new rules may be registered simply in the list of spirits, annex 8, as Damassine, which provides broader protection.

Switzerland recently revamped its list of protected AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) wines and the new list of 80 products is now included in the annex 7 list of European wines. These include the new regional designations such as Lavaux and La Côte.

The two parties signed the agreement 3 May and it entered into force the next day.

The news comes just as canton Vaud, after 15 years of discussion, including two years of preparation, unveiled its first Premiers Grands Crus wines Tuesday evening 8 May, to media and then to Vaud legislators and officials.

Complete list of European wines, Annex 8 of the Swiss-EU agricultural agreement (pdf), with Swiss list at the end

Daniel Humm (photo ©2012 Francesco Tonelli, reproduced with permission)

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The lessons began in Zurich and were continued in Pont de Brent near Lausanne, and finally confirmed beyond a doubt in New York: 36-year-old chef Daniel Humm at Eleven Madison Park restaurant was named the James Beard 2012 “outstanding chef”.

The award, given to the Aargau-born chef for his work at the Michelin three-star address in Manhattan, is one of the most coveted US culinary awards.

Humm began his career as a 14-year-old apprentice at Baur au Lac in Zurich and he was trained by one of the country’s top chefs, Gérard Rabaey, at Pont de Brent.

He moved to the US in 2003. He earned his first Michelin star at age 24 as executive chef at Gasthaus zum Gupf, east of Stt Gallen in the Alpine village of Rehetobel.

He was named New York’s best chef by the James Beard Foundation in 2010 and the Eleven Madison Park, which he manages, was last year named the city’s top restaurant by the group.

Humm, well before winning the award, said that if he were ever honoured by an invitation to cook at Beard House, he would choose “Eleven Madison Park’s egg cream, Long Island clambake, and their take on New York cheesecake”, according to the foundation’s blog.

And invited he was!

We used to eat chocolat using our fingers (photo) in Switzerland, but now we also use chocolate spoons

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Fuchsia Dunlop, a favourite food writer, has just put together a wonderful article in the Financial Times about the impact of our cutlery on the way our food tastes.

This is a must-read for flavour and aromas fans, and to whet your appetite, here’s part of it: “The sight of 15 adults sucking their spoons like babies was an unusual start to a dinner party, but they had surprisingly different flavours. Copper and zinc were bold and assertive, with bitter, metallic tastes; the copper spoons even smelt metallic as they gently oxidised in the air. The silver spoon, despite its beauty, tasted dull in comparison, while the stainless steel had a faintly metallic flavour that is normally overlooked. As Miodownik pointed out, we were not just tasting the spoons but actually eating them, because with each lick we were consuming ‘perhaps a hundred billion atoms’.”

Next: try chocolate spoons, please

I do think the people she quotes at the end should pay a visit to Switzerland, where many of us already routinely use high quality chocolate spoons. My favourite supplier: La cuillère suisse, mmmm.

Vins de Genève stand at Arvinis 2012

MORGES, SWITZERLAND – A couple people have said what they would really like are some suggestions about how to visit Arvinis and a) not end up drunk and b) learn something about wine c) while enjoying themselves.

The problem with any wine fair is that it’s daunting, especially if you’re not familiar with many of the wines.

Here are my suggestions, valid for any wine festival or fair where the offer is bigger than your body can handle:

1. Do look at the English version of Arvinis‘s site, where you’ll find a map, information on the guest of honour (Swiss Wine Promotion) and the list of exhibitors, to start.
2. Decide before you go how to limit yourself, because with 3,000 wines available for tasting you’ll be lost if you walk in and start with the first one, moving in a straight but increasingly crooked line.
3. Spit it out! This is crucial, because once you’ve drunk one glass of wine you can’t really do justice to the others; you simply won’t be able to taste them accurately and really judge them. Everybody spits; that’s why the crachoirs/spitoons are there. Just grab it if it’s not next to you, and use it. Tip: Keep a tissue handy if you’re not used to doing this and worry about dribbling.
4. Some people opt to just taste white wines, others to do just red wines. Every stand offers both, so be disciplined and stick to your plan.
5. Some old hands like to do it geographically, maybe sampling wines from 5 neighbouring towns and villages. The easiest way to do this is to open the pdf document on the exhibitors’ page, then note the location of the wineries. They are listed here alphabetically but each entry shows the region or sub-region, such as La Côte in Vaud or central Valais.
6. I like to pick grape varieties and sample wines made from the same grape from a group of producers. If you want to try this Chasselas and Sauvignon Blanc or for those who like very dry wines Sauvignon Gris work for the whites. Try Pinot Noir, Gamay and Gamaret for the reds. These are all widely grown in Switzerland, so you’ll have plenty of options.
7. Take notes. Write down anything you like, or do like the pros and try to note what you smell (aromas of rose or apple or pear or hmmm, rubber?) and then what it feels like in your mouth (racy, smooth, big and fills your mouth, tannins pinch your mouth dry?). But mainly, make a note of what you don’t like and what you love. Tip: I photograph the wines I like with my cell phone, so I don’t have to note label details.
8. Ask questions. What does the winemaker find in the nose (always a good question if you don’t trust your own nose)? Is it oaked, meaning it has spent some time in wood, or how soon is it bottled after the harvest? What was 2011 like as a vintage for this wine? Don’t be afraid to say you know nothing or next to nothing; wine producers love that as it gives them a chance to explain their wines.
9. Spit it out! This is the most important rule, so I’m repeating it. You’ll enjoy the wine more, believe me. And save your favourite for last, going back and trying it again, and this time, feel free to drink it. But just one, if you’re driving (and I hope you’re not).

A note for Arvinis: wine producers come from a number of countries and this is a good opportunity to compare Swiss wines to those from other countries. Keep in mind that the downside of wine point systems such as Robert Parker’s is that while they might help us decide what wines are good value, they encourage us to compare wines when we shouldn’t: one of the great glories of the wine world is its diversity. Enjoy the differences!