A fire in early April in Sierre in a private parking lot caused extensive damage to 28 cars and a building, one of scores of fires since the start of the year
SION, SWITZERLAND – A man in his 20′s who is a member of the fire brigade in Sierre, canton Valais, is in jail after he admitted to setting a number of fires, mainly in the town.
Police, with the cooperation of the fire department’s leaders, decided to take DNA samples from firefighters, on a voluntary basis after 28 cases of suspected arson in the first three months of this year.
The young man, who was under suspicion of setting the fires, refused the tests.
When questioned, he admitted to all the fires set in basements, cellars, and outbuildings but not to those in football stands.
The police investigation is continuing.
A Rega Eurocopter EC147, one of 17 helicopters owned by the air rescue non-profit group
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Rega, Switzerland’s largest air rescue service, carried out a record 14,240 missions in 2011.
These included 10,979 helicopter flights, or about 30 a day on average, which increased 5.7 percent over the previous year, says the company.
The private organization is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2012.
Rega’s rescues often involve emergency medical assistance. It was recently in the news for carrying home to Belgium the last of the injured children from a bus crash in a tunnel in Sierre, canton Valais.
Swiss Alpine Club members training with Rega
The company has three air ambulance jets and for the only time in its history it had all three planes working at the same time to ferry the seriously injured patients home less than 10 days after the accident.
A little more than half of the organization’s budget is funded by annual contributions from 2.4 million individual “patrons” whose donations also allow them to use the services, although not free of charge. Medical interventions are billed to insurance companies, who make up the budget difference.
It is currently waging a political fight with a parliamentary initiative in the wake of a Federal Supreme Court ruling in October 2011 that requires it to pay VAT on the money from its patrons. The VAT amounts to CHF5.5 million annually.
Ed. note: Open-day events to celebrate the jubilee year are scheduled around the country, including one in Lausanne 9 June. A documentary-style film “Rega up close” will be available for sale from 27 April in German, French, Italian and English.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The possibility that the bus crash that killed 28 and injured 24 people in Sierre, Valais was caused by the driver handling a DVD has been ruled out by the chief investigator, Olivier Elsig. He and a team of investigators returned Friday 30 March to Switzerland from Belgium after interviewing several of the Belgian and Dutch children who were injured. They also examined closely a bus identical to the one that crashed. The DVD compartment was behind the driver and would have required a set of maneuvers that rule out this possibility.
The bus is still being examined to see if there were technical problems.
CHUV university hospitals in Lausanne
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The three girls at the Chuv university hospitals in Lausanne who have been in critical condition since the bus crash in Sierre a week ago are now out of danger, doctors said Tuesday 20 March. The hospital says in a statement that it will now be in touch with Belgian authorities about repatriating the girls in the near future.
One girl came out of her induced coma late last week and the two others have now also come out of their comas and have been able to speak to their parents. The two who suffered concussions and multiple fractures are showing “favourable signs” of neurological recovery and the girl who suffered spinal injuries is showing some movement in her toes and fingers, a positive sign, says the hospital.
All three, it says, are now at the start of a long rehabilitation road.
The other injured children from the 13 March bus crash in a tunnel in Sierre were all flown back to Belgium by the weekend.
The funerals of the children who died will be held Thursday. A contingent of Swiss officials from the police, medical and fire departments as well as city and cantonal officials, all of whom were heavily involved in the rescue operations, are flying to Belgium today to accompany the families for the next two days.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The cause of the bus crash that killed 28 people 13 March in Sierre, and injured 24 others, was most likely human error or a technical problem, the public prosecutor in charge of the case insists, despite media stories making the rounds that the driver may have been inserting a DVD or have been distracted by a teacher who brought the DVD to the front of the bus, information the chief investigator denies.
Two parents of children who were injured have reportedly told media that the children say a one of the teachers had gone to the front of the bus to hand the DVD to the driver.
A team of investigators that includes a specialist in interviewing children in police cases will be traveling from Switzerland to Belgium next week to interview the children as part of the effort to understand what went wrong.
Olivier Elsig, who is heading the investigation, says that while recovering children have said they saw the menu for a movie come up on the screen shortly before the crash, there is no evidence nor does he have any reports that someone had moved to the front of the bus. Film footage from the tunnel shortly before the crash shows all the adults seated at the front of the bus.
The cause of the crash remains unclear, but Elsig Friday 16 March issued a statement making a number of points:
Technical investigations
- Investigators are completing the mapping of the scene and analyzing recovered traces of the accident
- Video footage have made it possible to follow the path of the bus: they exclude an initial crash on the left side of the tunnel as well as the involvement of another vehicle
- Several documents about the buses and their drivers have been received in Valais and are being reviewed
- Tachygraph disk scanning will allow investigators to determine the precise speed of the bus; the first images appear to show the bus going under the speed limit, which is 100kph in the tunnel
- The technical check of the bus is underway; experts are being selected who will ultimately determine if the vehicle had any defects.
Interviews
- People who were driving near the bus before the accident, and who contacted police, are still being interviewed
- A dozen of the children who were injured have been interviewed and no information has turned up that would make it possible to determine the causes(s) of the accident: this includes the theory of a moment of inattention while linked to a DVD being inserted – none of the witnesses saw the driver making such moves.
The autopsy
Partial autopsy results (further analyses are being done) show that:
- it appears the driver died from trauma injuries
- no presence of alcohol was found in his system
- no pre-existing pathology or other element has turned up to encourage the idea he may have had a sudden health problem.
Causes of the accident
Two theories remain:
- a technical cause linked to a vehicle defect
- human cause as a result of error or a moment’s inattention.
Swiss government to review safety of tunnel pullover emergency areas
Holy Cross Church in Sierre was filled to overflowing as the town's citizens came for special mass Thursday night, for those who died or who have been hurt
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Eight of the children injured in the 13 March bus crash in Sierre, canton Valais, that killed 28 people are heading home in specially-equipped planes, police said in a statement issued Thursday evening.
They were discreetly taken to say goodbye to their friends who remain hospitalized in Sion until they are able to travel. Three Belgian armed forces planes were given a special dispensation to land at the airport in Sion in order to pick up the children and their families.
Dr Jean-Pierre Desfarzes, who has headed the emergency medical team dealing with the accident, says that the next 48 hours will be crucial for the most seriously injured, who may suffer long-term neurological and “functional” damage due to the severity of their injuries.
Four of the eight who are heading home have been in the hospital in Visp and four in Sion. Another 10 remain in the Sion hospital, but all have now been moved out of intensive care. The three in Lausanne at the Chuv remain in critical condition and one child flown to Bern suffered multiple fractures and a severe concussion.
“In the hours following the accident we were pessimistic,” Desfarzes told GenevaLunch, “but quite a few are recovering well.”
Dr Desfarzes says that despite the small size of the towns in the area, “Valais has an amazing capacity to absorb” a large number of injured people. The Valais Hospital trauma centre status means that 16 medical disciplines must be on call 24 hours a day. During the night of Tuesday to Wednesday some 150 medical workers were part of the emergency trauma team. Valais Hospital is a collection of nine medical treatment sites throughout the canton.
Fifty operations were carried out on 16 patients, mainly in Sion, which has served as the planning and main treatment centre this week.
Valais Police Chief Christophe Varone briefs the media at the site of the crash Thursday, after the families visited it
The staff included dozens of nurses and operating room assistants, radiology technicians, 10 surgeons and 10 emergency medicine doctors, anesthetists, intensive care specialist physicians, radiologists, pediatricians and pediatric surgeons.
The small city of Sion was able to handle such a heavy burden because of good coordination, say police: Visp, Martigny and Sierre hospitals were able to promptly take in those with lesser injuries and provide them with a very high level of care.
Desfarzes told GenevaLunch that he was proud of the team’s preparedness, which involved quickly bringing together a large number of people who were off-duty or on vacation.
Valais police and the hospitals will not be allowing interviews with any of the children or their families in order to protect their privacy, they told media.
Thursday, late afternoon, more than 250 journalists were taken to visit the site of the crash, the cause of which remains unclear for now. The federal highway department told news agency ats earlier in the day that it is reviewing the “angled” (with corners) emergency areas that are the norm throughout Switzerland.
Media from around the world have streamed into Sierre; today they were taken by police to visit the tunnel crash site before it re-opens
Journalists were taken to the site of the crash Thursday evening, after families of the victims had visited and left flowers and messages, including a chalk heart, on the wall that the bus hit head-on
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – All 28 people who died in a bus crash Tuesday 13 March in Sierre have now been identified, say police. The formal identifications are necessary in order for police to release the remains to families.
The bodies will now be flown back to Belgium Friday on the two airplanes made available by the Belgian army, according to canton Valais police.
Police in Sierre earlier took about 250 journalists Monday evening to the closed Geronde Tunnel where the bus crashed Tuesday 13 March.
One of the distressing bits of news as part of their update was that only 19 of the 28 bodies had been identified.
Three hours later, police said that backup personnel and “exceptional means” made available for the identifications had allowed the process to be speeded up so that all the bodies could be identified in less than 48 hours.
Three of the problems the investigators ran into were the lack of a clear list for the occupants of the bus, since the group had three buses and one list of names, but also the fact that some of those who died in the violent crash were badly “mutilated”, making identification difficult, and too few witnesses given the number of deaths and serious injuries.
The peaks above St Luc, where the children stayed, 15 March 2012: the village is nestled in the wooded area seen here, below some of Switzerland's most beautiful peaks. Famed hikers' Weisshorn hotel is visible centre-left, above the tree line
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Two airplanes provided by the Belgian government are taking home the bodies of the victims of Tuesday night’s bus crash in a tunnel in Sierre but as of Wednesday not all of them have been formally identified and a forensic laboratory in Lausanne is taking on extra help to speed up the process as much as possible.
Families are visiting the morgue Thursday to identify the bodies.
Late Wednesday night the last two unidentified injured persons were identified, ending some of the uncertainty which faced families.
Investigators say an autopsy will be carried out on the driver of the bus.
The blog the group kept while on their ski trip to St Luc in the Val d’Anniviers, written by Frank Van Kerckhowe, a teacher in his 40s, with comments from the students and messages home, serves for many families as the last word from the children.
Sierre is holding a service at the Holy Cross church Thursday evening for local people to be able to pay their respects.
Updates on the crash victims, injured, from outside Switzerland
The bus drove the 21km down to Sierre via the twisting Val d'Anniviers road, visible here in the centre, lower half of the photo, then entered the tunnel via the autoroute access road seen bottom left here. The Geronde tunnel, where the bus crashed, is behind the Geronde hill, covered in vineyards, bottom centre of the photo (photo, Ellen Wallace, 15.03.12)
World media have focused on the Sierre bus crash that killed 28, including 22 children, Tuesday night 13 March, and stories are now beginning to surface about who the families are, and the last days of the children at a Swiss ski camp. We’ll regularly update this list of links to other sites that we think our readers will want to see; note that some are not in English:
Alexander en Luca overleven achter in de bus, DeMorgen, Belgium, about 11-year-old Alexander, at the back of the bus, who survived 15.03.12 (Dutch)
“Kinderen andere schoolbus hoorden nieuws op de radio”, Nieuwsblad, Belgium: children on one of the other buses, from Sint-Victorschool Beersel, heard the news on their radios while on the bus, 15.03.12 (Dutch)
SA doc’s child survives Swiss bus crash, News 24 in South Africa about the one child taken to hospital in Bern, 15.03.12
Belgium prepares to fly home bus crash victims, swissinfo, 15.03.12
Video interview with the first witness, who alerted emergency services, Swiss television RTS, 14.03.12 (in French)
Dr Jean-Pierre Desfarzes, in charge of the emergency medical team, reflected the exhaustion and distress of the 200 rescue workers called to the scene, who worked throughout the night to save the injured and remove the dead
GENEVA / SION, SWITZERLAND – The death toll from Tuesday night’s horrific bus crash in Sierre, canton Valais remained at 28 Wednesday, according to Canton Valais police.
But in a rundown of the condition of the 24 passengers who are hospitalized with injuries there was good news and bad 20 hours after the accident.
The bus crashed head-on into a wall that is part of an emergency pullover area inside the tunnel, killing 28 and injuring 24, at 21:15 Tuesday 13 March.
The weather was fine, the tunnel well lit, no other vehicles were involved: in short, there is no easy explanation for the accident.
The bus was carrying children from southern Belgium who had been at a winter sports camp in the Val d’Anniviers. They were returning home and had only traveled 15 or so kilometres.
A press conference by Valais Police at 18:00 Wednesday provided a few new details:
- Of the 24 who are injured, 22 have been identified; police are still working to identify all of the dead definitively in order to tell their families, but the identification of two of the three who are in critical condition in Lausanne has not yet been possible and police have called in a number of medical specialists to try to speed up the process
- Numerous Dutch and Belgian families have come to Switzerland: some do not yet know if their children are dead or alive because there were three buses on the trip and although police quickly obtained a list of students, it was not immediately clear which children had taken which bus
- There were 52 people on the bus and the latest information indicates that in addition to the Belgians, 10 were Dutch, 1 German and 1 Polish person
- The state of the injured: the three patients at the Chuv university hospitals in Lausanne are in critical condition and Dr Jean-Pierre Deslarzes, head of the cantonal medical emergency group, choked up as he said that their lives remain in danger
- State of the others who are injured: one child flown to a hospital in Bern is in stable condition, six who were taken to hospital in Visp are medically well enough to leave the hospital; by Wednesday evening, of the 14 children hospitalized in Sion, one remained in intensive care but was being prepared to be moved to the pediatric care centre
- 200 rescue workers toiled throughout the night to free the injured and remove bodies; several passengers were incarcerated and cutting through the metal proved a long and difficult task, given the state of the bus, which suffered a violent impact
- translators and counselers are working with the canton to welcome and help house families and to help them cope with their grief and also the uncertainty.
The cause of the bus crash in Sierre, as well as its trajectory, are not yet clear
The cause of the accident remains unclear, but the district public prosecutor was rapidly contacted to open an investigation and ensure that police were able to safeguard any clues that might help clarify the cause.
Investigation head Olivier Elsig told reporters that the bus appeared to be traveling within the speed limit and that the children appeared to have used their seat belts, but the impact was so great that many of the seats were torn out.
He ruled out problems with the road surface or the tunnel itself, which is very well lit and relatively new (1999-2002 construction).
Police guard the area in the tunnel, near the Sierre west autoroute exit, where the accident occurred (left). The tunnel was closed Wednesday evening in the direction of Sion, for the investigation.
He cited the fact that the investigation is continuing, as a reason for not providing more details, but he also noted that the accident had occurred less than 24 hours earlier and a top priority was to remove the passengers, identify them and contact families.
The investigation could take some time, Elsig noted, as they look for witnesses who saw the bus before the accident and as they analyze wall and road tracings and interview survivors, once they are in a condition to talk.
Swiss, Belgian heads of state in Sion to try to understand crash, help families
World media flock to small city in mid-Alps to register the shock
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Mid-March is the time when Sierre, known as Switzerland’s sunshine city, steps out of its winter clothes. Spring is in the air despite the still snowy peaks surrounding this Alpine town. Read more…
Head-on crash into tunnel wall killed 28, injured 24 in Sierre, Switzerland (photo, Valais police)
SIERRE / GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Police in Valais are trying to piece together the cause of the Tuesday night 13 March accident they are describing as “of an extreme violence”.
Twenty-eight people, 22 of whom were children about age 12, lost their lives in the crash at 21:15 Tuesday night.
Valais police chief Christian Varone immediately informed Belgium’s ambassador to Switzerland, Jan Luykx, who went directly to the scene of the crash to help police contact the families as quickly as possible.
In a Wednesday morning bulletin police provide slightly more detail but the cause of the crash and the high number of deaths and injuries remains baffling for now: the bus veered to the right in the tunnel and into the wall at the end of an emergency pullover area.
The impact was so violent that the front of the bus trapped a number of passengers, who had to be cut out by firefighters. Rescuers have made reference to the high speed at which the bus must have been travelling for the crash to have such an impact, but it is not yet clear if the bus, one of three in a group carrying the Belgian students and adults, was traveling within the speed limit, which is 100kph inside the tunnel.
The accident, which sent 24 people, mainly children, to six hospitals, including the Chuv university hospitals in Lausanne and the cantonal hospital in Bern, called on a large number of emergency services: 30 police officers, 60 firefighters from Sierre and Sion, 15 doctors, 100 members of cleanup crews, 12 ambulances, 8 emergency helicopters (Air Glaciers, Air Zermatt, Rega), 3 psychologists who are providing counseling.
Ed. note: RTS, Swiss public radio/television in French, is providing regular updates that include photos of the very badly damaged front of the bus, taken in Sierre Wednesday morning.
Bus carried two classes of 12-year-olds; 24 injured
The bus carried 58 people, with the children from two towns in Flanders, Lommel and Heverlee. It was heading home at the end of the trip.Switzerland's Val d'Anniviers, where the school group had been skiing
Update 07:10 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A bus from Belgium, carrying two school classes of children who had just finished a week of ski holidays in the Val d’Anniviers, crashed in an autoroute tunnel in Sierre late Tuesday 13 March, killing 28 people and leaving 24 injured, Valais police say.
The accident occurred at 21.15 Tuesday night. The bus had just entered the autoroute and was in the tunnel that links the west and east A9 autoroute exits for Sierre when it swerved and crashed head-on into the tunnel wall at the end of an emergency pullover area.
The tunnel was built only 10 years ago, is wide and well-lit, relatively flat, with gradual curves, and the weather was dry and clear Tuesday evening so the tunnel and tires would have been dry.
The two bus drivers died in the accident. Police investigators are trying to determine what caused the accident.
Those who were injured are being treated in four area hospitals, with some flown to the Chuv in Lausanne and one to Bern.
The families, accompanied by psychologists, will be arriving in Switzerland during the day Wednesday.
Valais police have set up a hotline
From outside Switzerland +41 848 112 117
From Switzerland 0848 112 117
Update, Valais police report in Dutch
Sierre : een ernstig ongeluk met een Bus uit belgie
De 13.03.2012rond 21,15 In de Tunnel van de autobaan in Sierre is een ernstig ongeval gebeurd .
Een bus met belgische nummerplaat is tegen de wand van de tunnel opgeklapt.
Verscheidene personen zijn ernstig verwond, Een grootscheepse hulp actie is opgezet.
De bus reed vanaf Sierre richting sion. Terwijl hij in de tunnel reed ,is de bus van de weg afgeraakt en is tegen de wand aangereden op het einde van een vluchtplaats.
Verscheidene personen zijn ernstig verwond. De hulpgroepen zijn nog altijd bezig.De gewonden zijn vervoerd naar verscheidene ziekenhuizen,
De politie heeft een hulplijn opgezet die uitsluitend voor de families zijn gereserveerd.
Motorcyclist killed on the Sierre-Montana road Saturday afternoon, just below the area where the Tohu Bohu music festival is taking place this weekend
SION, SWITZERLAND – A 34-year-old Portuguese man was killed at 15:15 Saturday 10 September in Sierre when his motorcycle collided with a car.
The driver of the car, a 49-year-old woman from Appenzell, had slowed down to make a left turn as she came down the hill when the right side of her car hit the motorcyclist, who was climbing the hill.
The man died at the scene of the accident.
The Route de Riondaz, where the accident occurred, runs from Sierre to Montana, part of the Crans-Montana resort. The accident occurred just below Murraz-Miege, where the Tohu Bohu open air music festival is being held this weekend.
Vinea wine festival, Sierre
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Temperatures are inching back up this weekend, with highs of 28C expected, but the warmer weather will bring some thundershowers with it in French-speaking Switzerland.
Central Switzerland is more likely to be dry and sunny, so if you’re up or hiking, head for Interlaken or Lucerne.
GenevaLunch will be publishing some suggestions for Swiss mountain hiking tomorrow, Friday 2 September. We will also publish a guide to visiting Vinea (see below).
Be sure to check out the GenevaLunch events calendar for a good weekend selection.
Two top alternatives for the weekend are:
- the Vinea wine festival in Sierre, Switzerland’s largest outdoor wine fair, with 150 producers from throughout the country presenting 1,500 wines, at an event that turns the main street of Sierre into a stream of white tents with a congenial crowd of 10,000 wine-lovers. Complete programme and details, Vinea (in English)
- Saturday, 3 September the Chateau de Chillon is offering a special astronomy observation event for CHF10 with special entrance price for children: a teleconference at 20:15 with astrophysicist Sylvia Ekstrom from the University of Geneva, in French, will be followed by an observation of the skies, with access to special instruments, at the foot of the castle: info@chillon.ch or telephone 021 966 8910 to register.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A 36-year-old Frenchman is in critical condition in hospital following a car accident Friday morning at 08:30 on the Vallorbe-Croix cantonal highway, near the La Cula (RC 251a) crossroad. Vaud police say his car left the road for reasons that are not yet clear; the car hit a bank and ended in trees below the road. Emergency services cut him out of the car and he was taken by helicopter to the hospital.
Valais police identify 224 kph driver on autoroute near Sierre
Police say they have identified the driver of a car that was clocked at 224 kph on the A9 autoroute 9 June, following an investigation. The 21-year-old Valais man who lives in the region will likely face charges brought by the district attorney and he has been reported to the highway department services responsible for driver’s licenses.
He was caught going 224 kph on the A9 autoroute at Granges, going from Sion to Sierre, Thursday 9 June at 21:15, an area where the speed limit soon drops to 100 kph.
Kevin Loetscher reportedly hit by car while walking
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Police in canton Vaud say a motorcyclist was killed Friday evening on the Ollons Villars-Road, and in canton Valais, a young woman driver who was over the legal limit for alcohol, hit two pedestrians early Sunday. One of those she hit is reported by the Tribune de Geneve to be Swiss hockey player Kevin Loetscher, age 23. Loetscher, notes the Tribune, was one of the most valuable players on the Swiss team, which had just returned from the World Championship in Slovakia.
Valais police have not identified the victims of the accident that took place at 04:30 15 May near a roundabout that is next to the hospital in Sierre. A 21-year-old was slightly injured when he was caught by the edge of the car, but the 23-year-old victim was hit straight on and hospitalized in critical condition. The pair were walking along the edge of the road when they were hit by a 19-year-old woman, whose car came to a stop 20 metres later, say police.
She tested positive for drinking, with an alcohol blood level of 1.56. Switzerland’s legal limit is 0.5.
Vaud motorcyclist dies on Villars-Ollon road
A motorcyclist in his thirties lost his life Friday evening at 18:50 when he was thrown after being hit by a car near Glutières, on the road from Villars to Ollon. He was attempting to pass several cars when one of them swerved to the left. The violent impact led to his death shortly after, despite immediate efforts to save him, say police in canton Vaud.
The road was closed to traffic while police investigated the cause of the accident.
Sion, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A 43-year-old Spanish truck driver hit a parked police car on the A9 autoroute near St Leonard in canton Valais Friday afternoon 15 April. The two policemen in the car, which was stopped near signs for temporary roadworks, were slightly injured, but their car was “heavily damaged” say Valais police in a statement.
The accident, at 09:45 Friday morning, was apparently due to a moment of inattention on the truck driver’s part, say police. He was driving from Sierre to Sion and shortly before an underpass he veered off to the right and the right front of his truck went into the left rear of the police car, which was stopped in the emergency lane.
Busy seismic activity in Switzerland
Graphic of a 3.3 earthquake in Sierre - Provided by SED
Sierre, canton Valais (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s unusual seismic activity over the weekend was more widespread in canton Valais than initially realized: four quakes between 2.4 and 3.3 on the Richter scale were recorded in Sierre in less than three hours, with a total of 21 tremors in just over 12 hours in the same region.
The first 2.4 tremor occurred 8 January at 20:28, according to the Swiss Seismic Service (Sed). Three more minor quakes followed, two of 3.3 magnitude at 20:48 and 22:20, and another one of 2.8 magnitude at 23:32 that evening.
Fifteen aftershocks, which were minor and micro quakes, recorded but not felt, occurred in Sierre after the tremors and until 09:16 on 9 January.
Two other undetectable tremors were recorded during the same period in Brig and Helsenhorn, also in Valais.
Grape variety growing rapidly in international popularity; Swiss Pinot Noirs among best
Gérald Carrupt, canton Vaud, judge at the Mondial du Pinot Noir in Sierre
Sierre, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The World Champion Pinot Noir producer is a Graubuenden winery, Weingut Donatsch Malans, for its Donatsch Pinot Noir Passion.
The award, announced 2 September by the Mondial du Pinot Noir international wine competition, is given to the winery that for three successive vintages has received the highest score at the Mondial (best average and consistent style).
It draws attention to the best terroirs, but also to the oenologist’s know-how and skill in continually producing top wines, and to the wine’s ability to age well.
The Mondial, which took place in Sierre in early August 2010, had 1,134 wines entered this year, from 21 countries. Pinot Noir reds, blanc de noirs and rosé wines are the main entries, but Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc, cousin varieties, also compete separately. Six percent, or 71 wines were awarded gold and 260 wines, 23 percent were given silver.
Swiss wines carried away the largest number of gold awards, 56, followed by Germany with 10, Austria with 3. Australia and Bulgaria each had one gold winner. Switzerland entered more wines than other countries, but its strong performance has much to do with the fact that Pinot Noir is the most widely-grown grape in the country, outpacing even Chasselas, the white wine for which Switzerland is often known.
Judges at the Mondial du Pinot Noir mark the wines via computer, with tables screened to reduce distractions but also to keep notes private
Yann Juban from France, a judge and also deputy director of the Paris-based OIV (Organisation Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin), which oversees the competition, told GenevaLunch that one of Switzerland’s real strengths as a wine-producing country is its Pinot Noirs.
The grape, which is delicate and a challenge to vinify well, grows in virtually every grape-growing canton.
Pinot Noir growing in popularity, internationally
The competition is growing in importance as the popularity of Pinot Noir rises: Sébastien Gavillet is a wine consultant from Las Vegas who was one of the Mondial du Pinot Noir judges.
Alpmobil electric car at the Grimsel pass, overlooking the Rhone glacier, Furka pass and steam rail line
Sierre and Crans-Montana, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Alps always look good in early autumn but the weekend of 3 September canton Valais has a powerful set of attractions on offer.
Vinea, the Swiss wine fair that is the country’s biggest outdoor wine festival, opens its doors Friday evening in Sierre and is expected to pull in some 10,000 people during the two days when 1,200 different wines are on offer from 150 wineries.
And if you’re heading for either event, you’ll be in a good position to take a ride on the extension of the renovated and beautiful Furka steam train that runs between Realp and Oberwald, past the Rhone glacier and over the high mountain pass. The new stretch from Oberwald to Realp opened two weeks ago.
An alternative (or combine the two) is to rent a special tourism offer electric car in Meiringen, canton Bern, a town made famous by the death of Sherlock Holmes at its Reichenbach Falls, and drive over the magnificent Grimsel pass. From there you can glimpse the Rhone glacier and watch the steam train heading up the nearby Furka pass, or hop on the train.
Furka steam train on its maiden voyage, new Realp-Oberwald line, August 2010
You can also do the trip starting in the Goms Valley (Oberwald or other towns) and head to Meiringen. The nearly silent cars cost CHF60 for the day and, of course, there’s no fuel to pay for.
European Masters golf tournament 2-6 September
Vinea, in the heart of the Alps, is Switzerland's largest outdoor wine fair
Just above the city in the resort of Crans-Montana, the Omega European Masters golf tournament, which opens 2 September, will be well underway; it continues until Sunday.
Weather in the resort is expected to be mostly sunny, with temperatures between 7 and 17C, so take along a jacket. Children under 16 are free and tickets for adults are CHF60-70, with weekend special offers. The number of tickets is not limited, so there is no problem buying at the entrance to the golf course. This is Switzerland’s spot on the European tournament.
Vinea opens a day earlier, features more Swiss wines and special guest Hermitage
The main street of Sierre is taken over by Vinea as of Friday evening, with a line of white tents housing 150 Swiss winemakers. The purpose of the fair is to bring together the public and producers in a relaxed setting to encourage consumers to learn more about Swiss wine. This is wine at its educational best: drunken visitors are rare, producers are keen to answer questions, even at the most basic level, and there is no sellilng so it’s pressure-free. If you want to buy wine, you’ll have to order it and have it shipped or pick it up later. Since many of the country’s wineries are small family operations whose cellars are open to visitors by appointment this offers a rare chance to sample their wines without having to call ahead, and to compare different wineries’ products.
Vinea has several new features this year, starting with a chance for the public to sample the winning wines of the major international wine competition, the Mondial du Pinot Noir, Friday evening. The awards ceremony for the Mondial is always held at the start of Vinea, but the wines are available to the public for the first time this year.
Moon rising over Sierre, Valais, Thursday 26 August, in time for a blues festival
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Outdoor festivals are playing out the last notes of summer, in Saint Prex (Negro spirituals and classical), Lausanne at the Chocolate music festival and further afield, blues under moonlit skies in Sierre. The weather promises a bit of everything this weekend, according to Meteo Swiss, with temperatures ranging from 8-23C, showers, thunderstorms and sunshine.
If you’re short on ideas for this weekend, check out our events calendar.
And whatever you decide to do, take something warm, an umbrella and, just in case, sunglasses. And don’t forget your camera, because changeable weather makes interesting scenery!
Swiss Alps 27 August 2010
International sports, cycling, Tour de Suisse
Lugano, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Fabien Cancellara, Swiss cyclist, took the first leg of the Tour de Suisse race Saturday 12 June in Lugano, winning the against-the-clock race. The title-holder won the 7.6 km race through the streets of Lugano with a time of 10′ 21″ 06, just one second ahead of Roman Kreuziger. American Lance Armstrong came in 44nd, not taking any chances in the streets that were damp from rain towards the end of the race.
Cancellara has been plagued by rumours that he used hidden batteries for uphill runs, with some three million people viewing the YouTube video that purportedly shows this.
Bol d'Or 2009, waiting in Montreux, for boats to arrive
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – There is no shortage of events for sports fans this weekend, on TV but also live and in the region. The World Cup is on, of course: be sure to read our Geneva Living blog for big screen locations throughout the Lake Geneva region.
Bol d’Or: sails go up for 10:00 race start!
The big local event is the beautiful Bol d’Or sailing competition, with hundreds of boats in different classes doing the Geneva-Lausanne-Geneva loop. The races start at 10:00 Saturday morning, so check the wind or better, yet, check the race’s virtual tracking page to see where the boats are at a given moment, if you want to find a good spot for watching them. The Bol d’Or has a new video (12 minutes) with the history of the race, which began in 1939.
The weather forecast for Geneva: cloudy changing to partly cloud, high of 25C Saturday, slightly warmer Sunday, when the race normally finishes. Reminder: GenevaLunch now has a weather page with five day forecasts.
Tour de Suisse underway in Lugano
The Tour de Suisse cyclists warm up for the mountains by doing a 7.6km loop around the Lugano area Saturday, before starting the first big run Sunday, 167.5km from Ascona in canton Ticino, over the Simplon pass to Sierre, canton Valais. The race is normally covered by TSR but this year it is on at the same time as the World Cup, so if you aren’t on the route, watching it live, you’ll have to content yourself with roundups on TV and TSR coverage online. You can pick up the live ticker on the Tour de Suisse web site.
Update 19:00 Sierre, canton Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Dr Daniel Savioz, chief medical officer at the cantonal hospital in Sierre, has not had his contract renewed by the Réseau Santé Valais (RSV) after he questioned the quality of some visceral surgery operations at the hospital. Savioz, who is also an associate professor at the University of Geneva hospitals (HUG), works with renowned specialist Dr Philippe Morel at the HUG. The two hospitals have a partnership agreement, but Savioz’s contract was not renewed after he called in Morel and another professor, sharing a number of patient files in order to more closely study the situation.
Savioz has remained discreet in his comments, but Morel Wednesday 24 February told Swiss news agency ATS that he was shocked and upset by the decision. “It’s an inappropriate sanction against an excellent doctor.”
RSV, a state body that which medical care and hospitals in canton Valais, said at a press conference Thursday that it ended Savioz’s contract because it considered unacceptable his move in sharing several files with Geneva colleagues, against the wishes of his superiors in the RSV. Even a partnership agreement with the HUG in Geneva does not make this acceptable, it noted, adding that the RSV is anxious to ensure that there is no deterioration in the work atmosphere within the visceral surgery unit at the Sierre hospital, it noted.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – It is hard to find a dry spot in Switzerland Wednesday 30 December, with the country soaked to the bones by a warm front from the southwest that has raised temperatures 7-10 C above normal for this time of the year. Aargau in the north has been worst hit, with 32.7 litres of rain per square metre in two hours.
Burgundy comes to Sierre's sunny Vinea: Colline de Cortons wines were guests
Sierre, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – For the 16th year in a row, Vinea, the main wine fair for Swiss wines, managed to order sunshine for its two days of wine-tasting. This is the first year that the fair, organized originally by Valais winemakers to promote their own wines, has been opened to bottles from throughout Switzerland. Some 1,200 wines were on offer, and more than 10,000 people from around the country showed up to sample them.
Switzerland produces 1.12 million hectolitres of wine, a little over half of which is red wine, and Swiss consumers drink 37 litres per inhabitant a year.
The foreign wine guest of honour was the Colline de Cortons region in Burgundy, France, which brought 2006 bottles from several of its producers, providing a good basis for comparison within the region.
Vinea 2009, Swiss wines take over main street of Sierre, Switzerland (photo: ©2009 www.photo-genic.ch)
Vinea wine fair 2008
Lausanne / Sierre, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Canton Vaud’s wine group Domaines Clos & Châteaux will be one of the guests of honour at Vinea, Switzerland’s main fair for Swiss wines, which opens to the public Saturday morning at 10:00, outdoors in Sierre. MeteoSwiss is predicting that Friday’s rain will turn to sunny skies during the day Saturday, with temperatures around 15-18C (take a jacket).
The fair, traditionally focused on Valais wines, is extending its reach to include other Swiss winemakers as part of the main offering this year, with two guests of honour: the second is wines from Burgundy’s Cortons hills in France.
The wine fair draws some 10,000 winelovers from Switzerland and neighbouring countries each year, thanks to an easy system for sampling the 1,200 wines and talking to the 110 winemakers presenting. The main street of Sierre is taken over by white tents organized in a line that replicates the Rhone River’s wine-producing villages in Valais, and visitors pay CHF30 for a tasting glass they use to sample as many wines as they like.
Friday the fair opens formally with the awards ceremony for the international wine competition, the Mondial du Pinot Noir.
Pinot Noir: a subtle, elegant wine
Sierre, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A wine from Spain and another from Valais are the big winners at the annual Mondial du Pinot Noir wine competition, the world’s only top-level competition for wines made from this widespread grape, held in Sierre. “Cortijo los aguillares”, a Pinot Noir from Ronda, Spain, from the domain of Jose Antonio Itarte and “Malvoisie Flétrie sur Souche”, a Pinot Gris sweet wine made from grapes withered on the vine, from Cave de la Madeleine (André Fontannaz, Vétroz, Valais) were both awarded the Grande Médaille d’Or.
World Champion of Pinot Noir Producers
A new award, World Champion of Pinot Noir Producers, went to a Zurich, Switzerland producer, Urs Pircher from Eglisau, Zurich. The new award is designed to recognize the best producer who, over three consecutive vintages, has continued to make top-quality wine.
Fireworks, Sierre, Switzerland 31 July 2009
Sierre, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The population of mainly rural Swiss cantons such as Valais, where over the years people have migrated to urban areas to find work, swells during the 1 August holiday period. Two popular ways of celebrating are the local fireworks and bonfires the night of the 31st or 1st (communes choose which one they prefer) and breakfast the next morning with family, good Swiss bread and, in at least one case, freshly picked Valais raspberries.
Happy August 1 holiday!
Breakfast: brioche with Swiss cross and freshly picked Swiss Alps raspberries, 1 August 2009
Charles Bonvin & Fils in Sion celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2008
Sierre, Valais, Switzerland (Le Nouvelliste, Fre) – Rouvinez, Sierre-based winery, will buy Charles Bonvin & Fils, including 20 hectares of vineyard, to become the largest private wine company in Valais. Valais is Switzerland’s largest wine-producing canton, with 40 percent of the country’s wine: 45 million litres in 2008. The sale, reportedly for some CHF10 million, will keep the oldest wine cellar in Valais in local hands.
