Cornalin and Syrah from Cave de la Madeleine, Vetroz, Valais

Update 21:30 I’ve started tweeting wineries + 1 type of wine for each, some of my top picks among the Swiss wines at Arvinis, in addition to the California and selected Swiss tasting notes I’ve already posted here. It’s always hard to decide which ones are worth a stop and once there, what wines to taste. I hope that sharing my shopping list of good Swiss winemakers and a personal favourite among their wines will simplify the hard work of tasting in Morges!

Consider signing on as a GenevaLunch follower on Twitter or getting the rss feed. I’ll be posting about 20 10 (enough!) of these in total by Saturday night.

I haven’t noted which are white or red, dry or sweet, so in order of tasting, try this: whites – Chasselas, Fendant (same grape, just Valais), Ermitage, Johannisberg, then reds – Pinot Noir, blends, then sweet whites – Amigne (ask what the bees signify), Malvoisie late harvest.

Santé!

Alexandre Truffer, a young and excellent Swiss wine writer, is coming out with a book on the best wines from French-speaking Switzerland that will be available in bookstores 22 March – I’ll be carrying a review of Vins de suisse romande here next week, as I’m keen to see which are his favourites, but more importantly, to have his guidance in tasting them. I’ve been on courses he has given on wine and chocolate and sat alongside him at tasting sessions, and his advice is worth listening to. The book covers 65 winemakers selected by Truffer, with some 300 wines in total. The advance online look I have had is promising.

Truffer is the author of the wine web site Roman du vin (see our link on this blog).

The book is published by Creative Publishing, a small local company which is starting, at the same time (and this is not an accident), a new wine club, Cellier Romand, dedicated to the best in wines from Swiss French-speaking areas. It goes live online at the end of this week. I’ll share my thoughts with you once it opens, but the first peek looks good, with three bottles of wine a month for CHF65, their selection of the best, accompanied by descriptive and background information.

Pierre Casamayor is a name that resonates with anyone who reads about wines: he is the author of a number of articles and books, notably the How to Taste Wine, which is something of a popular bible on the subject, in part because it is so readable. He is meeting in March with several groups of professionals in Switzerland. His visit includes two events open to the public, a wine tasting evening Thursday 18 March at the Chateau Villa in Sierre and an educational evening Friday 19 March that blends wine conference, tasting and a “cocktail dînatoire” (Swiss French for a standup buffet with cold and warm dishes). The Morges evening’s theme is “Wine-tasting and sensory analysis” and the focus is on Vaud Chasselas (note: in French).

The programme starts at 18:00, the presentation and tasting at 18:15 and the cocktail dînatoire at 20:00. Price CHF65, reservation needed.

Casamayor is honorary professor of oenology and a permanent member of the committee of wine-tasters for what is arguably France’s  top wine publication, Revue des vins de France. He was professor of sensorial analysis (wine-tasting) at the graduate school for oenologists of the Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse before his 2003 retirement.

The congress centre and hotel La Longeraie, which is hosting the event, is offering a special package: CHF65 for the event and CHF145 for a room for 1-2 persons, breakfast included.

Registration, Morges evening with Casamayor: Hotel and Restaurant, Congress Centre La Longeraie, Tel: +41 21 804 6400, e-mail hotel@lalongeraie.ch, www.lalongeraie.ch

(The evening with Casamayor is sponsored by Arvinis, Vin Vaudois and Roth & Sauter)

Vinea wine fair: right age, right environment for learning about wine

France, like other European countries, is trying to work out how to best deal with teenage binge drinking and the latest advice from the experts is to offer wine tasting courses. Britain’s Guardian turned this into headline news, while France’s Le Monde relegated it to a small mention at the end of an article about recommendations for improving university student eating habits and TF1 television notes mainly that the authors regret that a glass of wine at lunchtime has virtually disappeared from the students’ menu.

An Irish Times article in February noted that the French have yet to come up with a term for binge drinking.

Cultural differences are alive and well in the European Union.

Winemakers in France aren’t alone in arguing that educating young people about moderate consumption of alcohol is the secret, and that teaching them to appreciate wine in the broadest sense will help. I was told the same thing recently by Daniel Dufaux, head of the Swiss oenologists union.

But French officials have startled their European counterparts by suggesting that universities should offer wine tastings at lunchtime, to teach young people to appreciate wine. Valérie Pécresse, the minister for higher education who ordered the report on how to improve university canteens, reacted to the report she had commissioned by saying “Yes to wine education, no to wine courses at noon” so it doesn’t look like this suggestion will be implemented.

Wine courses are a great way to learn about the value and pleasure of moderate drinking even if you don’t equate it with sex, as one French gastronome did in commenting on the report (okay, he actually said “l’amour” which you can interpret as sex or love). But would this work? Maybe in France, where wine = culture = nous, les Francais. You can’t separate French wine from the country’s cultural heritage, and pride in that still runs very deep in France.

But few people appreciate wine until they are in their mid-twenties, according to several people in the industry. For months I’ve been asking: when is the best time to learn about wine, and how? Daniel Dufaux would like to see school history and science courses include more on the role of grape growing and winemaking in agriculture and in land dvelopment, for example. He would like to see schools encourage students, perhaps in science or health courses, to learn to develop their sense of smell through tasting sessions, which don’t necessarily need to include wine-tasting.

Francois Murisier, the new president of Vinea, told me last summer that young people outside the wine profession are rarely ready to fully appreciate wine before their early to mid-twenties. But if as children they have learned to appreciate the context, by hiking near vineyards, for example, by learning to appreciate different kinds of grapes, by seeing adults drink moderately and enjoying wine, their interest will suddenly come to life.

And if they are lucky enough to learn about wine then, while they are young so that they develop a nose for it, they are more likely to be moderate drinkers.

Changins Wine School, introduction to wine-tasting, teacher for one of the units: Yves Paquier

Correction – 2 dates in 2010, even better!

This is excellent news: the Changins Wine School (Ecole du vin de Changins), the best place around for learning to understand and appreciate wine, is offering its wine-tasting course in English for the first time.

The school has just mailed out its 2010 course schedule and “Introduction to wine tasting” is there. You’ll have to wait until April 2010 for the first class, but sign up early, as the 20 places for each class go quickly. Changins, the university, is more than 60 years old and the wine school more than 10, so both are well known to the Swiss.

The second session in English is in November 2010.

If  you have to watch your budget, this gives you time to start saving the CHF620 fee, which is worth every cent. Or drop a large hint to someone that this would be the perfect Christmas present for you. The school has gift coupons for its courses.

The wine school is part of the larger Changins complex, which includes the federal agricultural research station and the Western Switzerland University of Applied Sciences. This is where Swiss research into grape varieties, oenology, winemaking techniques takes place.

Changins Wine School

The Swiss reputation for perfection holds true here. Much of the work that has contributed to Switzerland’s rapidly growing reputation for wines that are among the world’s best has been done here. Graduate level research covers soil studies, micro-climates and plant health, but the school works very closely with winemakers from throughout Switzerland, as well, to improve vinification techniques.

The course covers four Thursday evenings in November, each lasting four hours. The classes are taught by a mix of professors from the university and professionals in the field. It’s a great course for people who have never understood what wine tasting is all about, but it’s also very good for people who feel they have gaps in their basic knowledge. Wine-tasting is quite simply much more fun after following the course.

It is more expensive than other introduction to wine-tasting classes, which usually cover less, in one or two sessions. It is more thorough, the wines selected are excellent for teaching purposes (and for the most part, for drinking!) and the work you put into it pays off.

Changins Wine School

The same course is offered in French several times during the year. Also new in 2010: a course that will suit some schedules better, from 09-17:00 Saturday and Sunday, in one weekend.

Contact: Changins Wine School (Note: Changins says the web pages for the wine school will be in English, probably before the end of 2009.)

Féchy, Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – This year, I promised myself in January, I will behave like a Swiss wine drinker. I will invest in some wines for the future and I will buy my wine in May or June. Foreigners in Switzerland, with the exception of the wine-minded French, of course, tend to think about stocking up in September, when the smell of grapes is everywhere. You have plenty of time to reflect on your cellar as you drive 20kph in a long line of cars behind tractor-trailers hauling the grapes along the lake road.

The Swiss way is to visit winemakers in late spring or early summer, May to July, when most of the wines are newly bottled. You can sample them, discuss them with other visitors and the winemaker, go home and think about it or order your stock then.

Since Raymond Paccot in Fechy is one of my favourite producers, whose Chasselas stands out in a world of classic Swiss  Chasselas, I started there. My husband and I sat down on little three-legged stools at the old wooden table late Friday afternoon in La Colombe’s tasting room.

Two of Paccot’s neighbours, both originally French, were there with pen and order list in hand. They had started on the whites and moved on to the reds. "My list is getting too long," one sighed. The other shrugged and cheerfully pointed out that he would undoubtedly enjoy all of them.

We started on the whites, first La Colombe, the basic Chasselas which I knew I wanted to buy several bottles of because we often serve it to guests. It is made from grapes grown on several vine parcels around the village, is light and works well with aperitifs or raclette cheese served outdoors on a summer day, something we often do with visitors. I like the fresh fruit tones – strawberry and lemon in particular – that I find there.

We moved on to Le Brez, a beautiful Chasselas from grapes grown on the eastern slopes above the village of Féchy. This is where you begin to understand the concept of terroir: the extent to which grapes are affected by the combination of soil, micro-climate (sun, wind, humidity) and altitude. Like La Colombe, this is a single-grape Chasselas wine, but it is more elegant and interesting, and even the new vintage opens out as you sip it. Paccot recommends leaving it in the cellar for one to three years to really benefit from its complexity.

We then tried a Pinot Gris, simply because this is a grape whose wines I love and Paccot’s version of it is one of the most interesting I have tried, with more fullness than many and unusually long in the mouth.

I was sipping and spitting out the wine, since I was driving home. The other visitors  were calculating how much they had consumed since one had to drive. I asked for their suggestions about building a wine collection.

"Oh, that’s a lot of work," said one.
"But it’s worth it," said the other. They agreed on this point.
"You can do it the French way, and buy some for yourself for later and make sure you start to build a cellar for your children," said the other.

Oh dear. I hadn’t thought of my son’s wine collection yet. I’ve barely thought of one for his parents. When Paccot notes that his Chardonnay is best sampled after three years  in the cellar I think I would like to hold onto at least one bottle that long.

I explain that we start out with good intentions and then forget to mark which bottles to drink when, so we tend to just drink them as we please.

"You need a large placard in front – ‘don’t touch until 2012′!"
"So, how do you go about adding wine to your cellar?"
Pause.
"Well, we just buy it and drink it," they admitted. Most of the time.

At this point my husband and I decided to try a red, and this was the moment of truth for me. I had intended to order about 12 bottles of white wine, possibly more, but I want to try several other winemakers’ goods this year, and the budget has its limits. I tasted La Colombe Reserve Rouge 2006, a blend that enchanted me (see wine of the week, below). It was promptly added to the list.

Raymond Paccot and his other guests had a lively conversation about the appellation limits for the village and what would happen if, as is under discussion, this is extended. The various terroirs in the vicinity were discussed and my knowledge about these wines increased a small bit as I took this in, another reason for visiting producers.

My advice if you want to build a cellar with good Swiss wines is this:

• start by finding a handful of producers whose wines you’ve tried and liked
• visit their cellars, in the next six weeks, to try the new vintage; many have opening hours, and if not, call to make an appointment
• calculate how many bottles you can afford to buy in 12 months and how much storage space you have for bottles you’ll keep for more than a year, then stick to your budget and space limitations
• read what Cave, a wine club in Gland, says about the ideal cellar and building your collection as well as Swiss wine expert Pierre Thomas’s cost and quality calculations (both in French)
• decide who is driving, and if this is you, DO sip and spit it out so that you can try 4-5 wines without consuming more than a glass, the legal driving limit
• don’t feel obliged to buy during your visit, but take notes, working from the winery’s order list.

Keep in mind that most producers in Switzerland are small businesses and the way they sell their wine is to have people come in and try it. Many don’t sell to supermarkets, so you’ll find these wines only at the cellar or possibly local shops, as well as in restaurants. They’re happy to share their knowledge with you and like to be asked questions, no matter how basic. If you have not planned to buy three or six bottles when you leave, explain that you’re just getting to know Swiss wines and you’ll send your order later. It’s acceptable to ask if they will sell you a single bottle so you can try it at home. If they’ve made you feel welcome they know that chances are you’ll be back again. Or you’ll order by mail, fax or phone.

The wine season is starting soon, with summer tasting sessions in villages giving way to fairs like Vinea in Sierre, several competitions, culminating in the Swiss Wine Grand Prix in Bern in October. The Swiss wine harvest, with the smell of ripe grapes hanging over villages, starts in September and runs to November in some areas and for some varieties. Consumers’ minds turn to wine.

Gail Mangold Vine of CFS Communication has just offered her newsletter subscribers an excellent tip: a wine course in English on Geneva’s own wines, 13 September, 19:00-21:30 in Plan-les-Ouates, SFr50, limited to 25 people. Opage, the cantonal farm products office to which the cantonal grape and wine production department belongs, also offers wine courses in French several times a year.

Details and registration

For a list of the canton’s award-winning wines, see the Geneva Wine Selection Awards 2007 on the Opage site.

Arvinis is Switzerland’s largest wine fair, a great idea that has been refined over the years. I went to the first one in 1996 and, having learned about wines in Paris, where I lived for several years, I was taken aback at the complete lack of snobbery. Switzerland may well be one of the best places on Earth to learn about wine because the wine is good, often excellent, and a high proportion of Swiss grow up surrounded by vineyards. As children they walk to school watching life among the vines as the seasons change. Wine is not exotic and mysterious. It is a pleasant part of daily life. In contrast, far more French people grow up with wine on the daily table, but little experience of vines and vineyards, so talk about wine

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From a distance there is something different about the stretches of vine across the hillsides. It’s hard at first to work out what has changed – the light? the color? You need to be closer, zooming in from the magnificent landscapes, to see that it is density: the vineyards are having their annual pruning session. Gone are the old leaves, the rough old branches going off in several directions.

Last weekend was a particularly busy one in the Valais vineyards, so many of which are owned by families who can only tend them on Saturdays and Sundays. First they are cut and the rows between the vines are thick with their rusty-coloured branches from the 2006 season. Then the piles are bundled and carried off, sometimes to be used as compost or for fuel.