Community Tasting Note

• Collector1855 wrote: 96 points

  April 11, 2015 - Sorry for the lengthy note but this wine needs framing.
  First and foremost, at the time of writing, this is the highest scoring Swiss wine in the wine advocate (historically WA is not really a Pinot reference but with a stronger Burgundy team now). Recently rated by Stefan Reinhardt who was made aware of this wine by Carl Studer, a well know quality retailer in Lucerne.
  Second, this is remarkable because Switzerland as a country is largely wine dark land and rarely produces wines above 90 points (regardless of the rater). I say this as a Swiss and I do not hold back my disappointment or even disdain at the wine industry in my home country. The reason for this is that Switzerland has a culture of producing "Jellow Tail" types of wines which are consumed as aperos in plastic glasses and blended into or drank with Cheese Fondue. The governments ill-fated subsidies for volume instead of quality exacerbate the situation further. The final nail in the coffin is that Chasselas and Gamay are among the widest planted grapes. Chasselas is not even a wine grape (but a table grape) and we all know Gamay from Bojo... enough said!
  So here comes a guy called Jacques Tatasciore, who makes in the middle of all this uninspiring mediocrity a Pinot Noir that is right up there with Burgundy Grand Crus. This wine was served by a professional against some serious Burgundy Grand Cru competition (Robert Arnoux RSV) and held its own.
  Tasting note: Medium ruby. Right off the bat the Pinot aromas in the nose show a complexity and refinement that I have never seen in a Swiss wine, much beyond what I have seen from Gantenbein for example. On the palate the wine continues with strong aromatics around red fruit, vanilla and spices with superb elegance and balance. The RSV only outstripped it with its additional minerality and length of the finish. Outstanding wine, my verdict: Nose 96, palate 95. Congratulations to Jacques Tatasciore. How I wish more Swiss vintners would produce wine like this.

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1 Comment

• IB71 commented:

  4/12/15, 11:36 PM - "[...]because Switerland as a country is largely wine dark land and rarely produces wines above 90 points (regardless of the rater)."
  
  Well, according to the blind tasting statistics of these two tasters (see link below), there is nothing embarrassing about the overall quality of Swiss wines. The tasted whites, mainly chasselas based, are averageing above i.e. dry whites from the Loire and Alsace in both 2011 and 2012.
  http://www.blindtasted.com/statistic
  
  Below I present you with nearly 100 swiss wines with 90 or higher-ratings. All tasted blind between 2013 and 2014.
  http://www.blindtasted.com/wine/search/1
  
  There is even a 95/100 rating for a chasselas tasted 100% blind (2005 Louis Bovard Dézaley La Medinette).

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