A glorious and educational tasting of Swiss wines
Bern, Switzerland
Tasted Friday, November 14, 2014 by Eric with 949 views
Introduction
Before I arrived in Bern, a local CellarTracker user had noticed my wife's name and sent me an email wondering if we might be related since we had the same last name. :-)
He followed up with an especially gracious invitation to organize a tasting of Swiss wines. Now there are tastings and there are tastings. This one was quite comprehensive with 24 wines poured before we even thought about dinner. Every flight was accompanied by detailed descriptions of the wine varieties, and everything was served over a great placemat map showing all of the Swiss wine regions.
The whole tasting was exceptionally educational and really put a number of the varieties in a better perspective for me.
Flight 1 - Chasselas (3 Notes)
I have been poured a lot of Chasselas/Fendant over the past 6 months, but this flight was very instructive for me in terms of understanding the core personality of this variety. As someone who likes very high acid whites, I continue to find myself wanting more cut and acidity. However, for the first time I really started to appreciate just how savory and salty Chasselas is.
Flight 2 - Riesling-Sylvaner (Müller-Thurgau) (3 Notes)
Another educational flight, this time focusing on the somewhat misnamed Riesling-Sylvaner (which is actually a cross between Riesling and Madeleine Royale). These have the acidity to be interesting, but none of them were wholly successful in my opinion. Perhaps this is a bit more of an acquired taste that I need to focus on some more?
Flight 3 - Petite Arvine (2 Notes)
Petite Arvine seems to be the Swiss white variety that is most in the wheelhouse of what I like to drink, nicely balancing minerality, acidity and freshness.
Flight 4 - Completer and Heida (2 Notes)
Here we try two indigenous whites. Of the two examples tasted, the Completer was especially interesting and made me want to try more Completer. I have had some other examples of Heida that I enjoyed more than this one, but perhaps the issue was tasting it alongside the much more lithe and fresh Completer?
Flight 5 - Humagne Blanche and Amigne (2 Notes)
Now we finished out the whites with two more rarities from the Valais. This Humagne Blanche left me flat, but the Amigne was fascinating!
Flight 6 - Humagne Rouge (2 Notes)
Lighter than the Cornalin to follow (and boy have I found some confusion in various web references that seem to say that Cornalin and Humagne Rouge are synonymous). At least with the four examples to follow, they seemed to have rather distinct structure and personality.
Flight 7 - Cornalin (2 Notes)
Mmm, these were chewy, bordering on rustic, and both really interesting. I need to do some more research into Cornalin...
Flight 8 - Merlot (2 Notes)
This flight showed the highs and lows of Ticino Merlot. I quite enjoy Merlot, especially some Italian examples and most from the right bank of Bordeaux. So the Ticino Merlot's have some fascination for me. Many of them are even more herbal than the Italian examples, but there is typically enough red fruit and freshness to make them unique, intriguing and quite interesting. In this flight the first wine was a darker and more concentrated example (that I loved), whereas the second one was just too green and weedy even for me.
Flight 9 - Pinot Noir (1) (3 Notes)
The final two flights were served blind, and there was one "ringer/pirate" in each flight to try and pick out. For anyone who has not had better examples of Swiss Pinot, you are missing out. There are some very majestic ones to be had!
Flight 10 - Pinot Noir (2) (3 Notes)
This was a really glorious flight. (And it should be noted that the Esmonin improved significantly over the rest of the evening, although in relation to the two amazing Swiss examples with was downright clumsy in comparison.)
Flight 11 - Dinner and Dessert (6 Notes)
And after all of those wines, we settled into a terrific meal (a smoky braised chicken over unreal polenta) and then some great Swiss cheese and sweets. A number of wines came out, and I didn't bother to capture many impressions. However below is what little I was able to capture.
Closing
Many thanks for a glorious tasting and very warm hospitality!
2012 Dubois et fils Chasselas Pierre Vieille
Switzerland, Vaud, Lavaux, St. Saphorin
This starts out somewhat mute aromatically with an almost medicinal hint of pine sap. The palate is fairly heavy, bordering on oily, very SALTY and mineral.
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2011 Château de Châtagneréaz Chasselas 1er Grand Cru
Switzerland, Vaud, La Côte, Mont-sur-Rolle
Mmm, the aromatics here are more bright and floral with an overlay of smokey ash. The palate is slightly more fresh than the St. Saphorin example tasted previously, a touch of fruitiness, but this is still quite savory.
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2012 Dubois et fils Chasselas Hautcrêt Marsens
Switzerland, Vaud, Lavaux, Dézaley
A faint nose, a bit leesy, with a whiff of peach. The palate is spicy, savory, a little CO2. It reminds me of a Gruner Veltliner with a spicy, peppery personality.
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