In a Swiss park, a footpath leads from Leuk, a village straddling the Rhone, up to Varen, which is perched on a cliff. The trail is steep and strewn with pebbles in early summer. But three lightfooted young people with small backpacks move at a steady pace, in the way the Swiss tend to do when they grow up hiking in the Alps. The trio checks a list of clues they picked up at the Leuk tourism office. This treasure hunt will take them along groomed trails for eight hours (several pauses included) to wineries within the extraordinary Pfyn Nature…
Ellen Wallace is the author of Wine Hiking Switzerland, a selection of 50 hikes and 50 wines, to be published 1 September 2022 by Helvetiq, in English, German and French. Ellen is an American-raised Swiss who lives high in the Alps. She is the author of the introductory book Vineglorious! Switzerland’s Wondrous World of Wines and she publishes an independent blog and newsletter in English whose main focus is journeying through the landscape (wines, vineyards, people, history, culture) of Swiss wines, to make these more accessible to wine-lovers in Switzerland and outside the country. Ellen is also a regular presenter of Swiss wines to groups and clubs, in English. She has judged at the Mondial de Bruxelles, Mondial des Pinots, Mondial des Merlots and the national Grand Prix des Vins Suisses.
Archetype, a Portland, Oregon-based import start-up, is focused on Alpine wines. They are refining consumer's understanding of the category and building community near and far.
For most of us, it would be easier to climb the Matterhorn in flip-flops than to lay hands on a bottle of wine made by Daniel and Martha Gantenbein. The couple painstakingly grow and make minute quantities of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Riesling on 6 hectares of high Alpine valley in German-speaking Switzerland. Before the wines have even been bottled, each and every one is already sold to long-time customers. How has this modest couple, working in unheralded terrain, become the emblem of Swiss wines par excellence? After nearly 40 vintages, Daniel and Martha have fine-tuned every element within their control — from…...
As more cool-climate regions like Germany's Mittelrhein seek grapes that can beat the heat, the rare Swiss variety Petite Arvine offers a surprising possibility.
The Donatschs were never conformists. Starting in the 1970s, Thomas Donatsch of Graubünden turned the Swiss wine landscape on its head with his illegal Chardonnay plantings and barrique experiments. In 2019, his son Martin broke the price record for Swiss wine with his Réserve Privée. Yet it hasn’t always been easy. A conversation with Martin reveals a few of the reasons why Swiss wines remain an insider secret. When it comes to wine, what makes Switzerland so unique? Switzerland is an extremely multifaceted country. Two radically different regions can exist within mere kilometers of each other. Ticino for example embodies…...
Was everything really better in the past? Well, people were at least more patient. Vaccines were developed over the course of years. Under Communism in eastern Germany it could take up to a decade to get a car. OK, bad examples. But even food and drink were given more time. Today, fermentation and preservation are back on the front burner in kitchens — and in cellars, too. Vintners typically work within the natural rhythms of the year, giving their wines time in cask or tank until just before the next harvest. But some are stepping deeper into the past…...
Trink Magazine | Valerie Kathawala hazards forecasts for the future of wines from Alto Adige-Südtirol, Austria, Germany, and German-speaking Switzerland.
