It is the same procedure every year… Wineries throughout most of the German-speaking Cantons open their doors for wine tastings on the first of May. It is a young tradition…but, one that is growing rapidly in popularity. This year over 190 wineries will host tastings – many of which also include food, music and other interesting cultural events.

Cantons participating this year include: Basel-Stadt, Baselland, Aargau, Luzern, Schwyz, Zürich, Schaffhausen, Thurgau, St. Gallen, Appenzell-Ausserrhoden and Graubünden.  More...

The recent frigid weather in Switzerland created perfect conditions to produce ice wines…a situation which does not often occur. Swiss wine-makers produce some of the most remarkable ice wines when given the chance…but only with extraordinary dedication to their craft.

It’s hours before the December sun rises and the temperature outside is well below freezing. It’s the perfect time to get out of a nice warm bed to harvest grapes. This is the type of sacrifice winemakers have to make in order to produce top quality ice wines.

Harvesting proceeds quickly before any sign of warmth thaws the grapes. The frozen grapes arrive at the equally frozen winery. All the doors and windows have been left open to keep the temperatures extremely low. If the grapes melt now, all the effort spent harvesting the grapes, and the risks taken by the winemaker in getting this far, will be in vain.

Ice wines are made from naturally frozen, ripe grapes. Once temperatures reach minus 7°C, the water inside the shriveled grape berries freezes, leaving a concentrated mix of natural sugars, acids and aromas. The frozen grapes are then pressed – a process which can take hours for the syrupy juice to ooze towards the tank. Finally, the alcoholic fermentation begins after a gentle warming of the juice, and the wait begins. Normal wine fermentation occurs on a scale of days, but ice wine can take months to properly ferment because of the high level of sugar in the juice.   More...

In this next account to Silvia’s season long wine adventure, she reports on the status of her vines after being away on vacation…

read part I ¦ read part II ¦ read part III

I missed the last lecture in Malans at the end of June…but hey, everyone needs a vacation…

We headed out during the last part of July to go check on my vines, and to see what had changed since my last visit. I expected to see fully grown vine branches with abundant grape bunches hanging below the leaves…especially after doing such a fine job in May of stripping away so many leaves from the young vine shoots.

I wasn’t disappointed.

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In this third part to Silvia’s season long wine adventure, she reports on the status of her vines, what she learned about vine maintenance and how to plant new grapes. read part I ¦ read part II

Spring finally arrived.

When the rain weather travels from the west toward Graubünden, there is a good chance the rain drops will never fall in Malans…or at least wait until the evening. This is the typical weather pattern in the Bündner Herrschaft and for once the weather did what was expected. Even though rain covered most of Switzerland, we were able to enjoy the warm spring sun.

A quick inspection of the vineyard told me what I needed to immediately know – our vines made it through the winter…and I did too. The vines looked strong and full of growth. The year’s early spring weather caused the vines to bud early, but the subsequent cold weather caused everything to return to normal by mid-May. But even so, some growers have compared the 2009 crop with 2003 and 2007, when everything was early.

As I walked the vineyard and came upon my row of vines, I noticed the few branches on each vine grew into bushes. There were also many little grape bunches visible…a joy to see.

Letting nature do what it wants means losing control of the vines and giving enemies a chance to attack. So after pruning and selecting two branches per vine in the winter, then binding them to the wire at the end of winter, it is now time to keep the vine’s new growth under control.    More...

In this second part to Silvia’s season long wine adventure, she reports on the status of her vines and how she learned to properly tie grape vines using a wire system. read part I

It was the middle of March and it was cold – very cold! I spent the day wondering where that hair dryer wind called the Föhn was when I really needed it?

Almost one month had past since my first introduction to the vines I would call my own for the year. I pruned away all of the unnecessary branches left from last year and readied my vines for a fresh start to 2009. The deep snow I encountered in February was gone, but I was faced with a new weather challenge, which made my work in the vines even colder – an icy arctic wind!

We spent the first ninety minutes in relative comfort learning all about lovely aphids, fungus and other ugly wine enemies. Then, it was time to face my vineyard row and accomplish the day’s task of bending the pruned grape branches and binding them onto the lowest wire. This system of keeping the branches horizontal and tied to a wire makes subsequent tasks during the year much easier – and safer for the vines. Need rows will allow a tractor to easily travel between the vines without hurting any branches or new growth.    More...

Ciao…My name is Teroldego. I am a red grape variety from northern Italy – just a bit north of Trento from the plateau named Teroldego Rotaliano. This is the only place I like to grow. My home is between very steep rock walls, two nice rivers and a warm climate with cooling alpine winds blowing down on me.

I am also the very first D.O.C. wine from this region…and naturally I am very well respected amongst all Italian wines.

I came to Zürich last week with a few of my red and white colleagues from Trentino. We stayed at the noble Dolder Grand Hotel…nice place, and presented ourselves in their new ballroom to numerous wine tasters, pros and some wine freaks. You would not believe some of the wine taster’s palates we ended up in – vero! But, I had a good time, and I am sure I left quite an impression with many tasters who have never experienced my charm.

I have an intense deep ruby color with an almost black core…it is the first thing people notice about me. I also have an intense and immensely fruity aroma. It is like…black cherry jam with maybe a hint of some raspberries. I am also quite spicy and some even say, I have the smell of black licorice. Sometimes I spend several months of wellness inside a small oak barrel, and I come away smelling like vanilla and toasted wood. This gives me an attractive complexity…no?   More...