WTN: Switzerland Drive By

quick notes from the hip on a bunch of swiss wines while watching a football match played in Basel. Well, watching except for the times when there was no picture...

Simon Maye Paien 2003 (Wallis): Paien is appearently Savagnin. Nose of melon, maybe joghurt?, nuts as well, quite interesting. thick and rich, yet somehow holding together in the finish. not my favorite style, but interesting.

Visperterminen Heyda 1999 (Wallis): yet another name for Savagnin. from a 1000m high vineyard. much better acidity than the Maye, quite mineral, but past its peak, and tired esp. on the nose.

M.T. Chapaz Petit Arvine Gremblon 2006 (Wallis) nose a bit shy, some peach and melon, a slight hint of barrique detected only after it was pointed out to me. rich yet with firmness and focus, long almost salty finish. very imptressive. my WOTN.

Simon Maye Hommage Rouge 2004: slightly weird mix of baryardy, goatsy, herby, and dark chocolaty aromas. dry and a bit short.

Simon Maye Syrah 1996 better, with a good Syrah nose, and a slightly hard palate. Hard to say if this will come round into something I'd really enjoy.

Gantenbein Pinot Noir 2006: a big chunk of somkey toast oack on the nose. hard to see much esle. bitter chocolate, almost Californian sweetness of the fruit, thankfully there is a relative freshness in the finish, that is not overly alcoholic. not my style.

Peter

[David M. Bueker]

I have absolutely nothing to say about the Swiss wines.

I am however gratified that you lost the picture as well. There has been a fair amount of criticism of ESPN for losing the coverage for all 7 football fans in the USA. Clearly it wasn't actually their fault.

appearently, it was the fault of the Austrians. tzhey have a "lange Leitung" as the saying goes... it was quite bizarre, when we got the picture back (appearently a direct cennection from Basel, not via Vienna, the tone was well ahead of the picture. I heard the commentator scream "Klose" before even the pass was hit, that eventually found his head and then the goal.

Peter

Peter,

Thanks for those notes. I have discovered on a couple of recent trips that the wines from Valais are surprisingly good and also surprisingly original in their flavours. I single out the varieties Petite Arvine, Amigne and Cornalin (red) and brought small stocks home with me.

Are you sure that the Simon Maye is "Hommage" not "Humagne" which is another indigenous Valais variety?

Tim

Peter,

Thanks for those notes. I have discovered on a couple of recent trips that the wines from Valais are surprisingly good and also surprisingly original in their flavours. I single out the varieties Petite Arvine, Amigne and Cornalin (red) and brought small stocks home with me.

Are you sure that the Simon Maye is "Hommage" not "Humagne" which is another indigenous Valais variety?

Tim

I think you are right. I thouight the wine was a Cornalin. Is Humagne another word for it? WE had another, older Cornalin I forgot to write down. It was very poopy and over-the-hilly.

Peter

Peter,

Cornalin and Humagne are two distinct Valaisan varieties. Here is a link to an excellent cantonal website which explains the varieties and a lot more - http://www.lesvinsduvalais.ch/de/cepages/ .

Simon Maye Paien 2003 (Wallis): Paien is appearently Savagnin. Nose of melon, maybe joghurt?, nuts as well, quite interesting. thick and rich, yet somehow holding together in the finish. not my favorite style, but interesting.

Visperterminen Heyda 1999 (Wallis): yet another name for Savagnin. from a 1000m high vineyard. much better acidity than the Maye, quite mineral, but past its peak, and tired esp. on the nose.

Interesting notes. I haven't tried these wines for many years and they will have greatly improved/changed in that time. I did know the Visperterminen Heida from the local cooperative there ... they used to say these were the highest commercial vineyards in Europe, though that was wrong as Aosta vineyards were always higher (and today there are higher still I believe in the Sierra Nevada in Spain!). It used to be quite Gewurztraminer-like - and of course, a few years ago I discovered that it was the same as Savagnin so it's part of the Traminer family. Did you manage to note which producer it was from?

Neal Rosenthal told me that he has tasted some really interesting Heida wines lately and hopes to import them (or perhaps he already does). This was in the course of a phone discussion about the Jura and I had to challenge him about it, because he is no fan of Savagnin Ouillé (topped up i.e. non-oxidative Savagnin) as he believes it's not traditional, though several amateur wine historians (including well known local sommelier Christophe Menozzi) believe that oxidative wines were never the real tradition of the Jura, and that apart from Ch-Chalon/Vin Jaune, most are a 20th century local fashion statement!

I digress ... all this is to say that I would love to do a comparison tasting between some Jura Savagnin Ouillé and Hedia/Paien from the Valais. One Day!

I came across some `02 Vin de Paille today from Berthet-Bondet (spelling?). Also a Cremant Jura from Rolet...do you all think it might be worth trying? Only $23 Cdn.

I came across some `02 Vin de Paille today from Berthet-Bondet (spelling?).

Spellt correctly, Bob! It should be a very credible Vin de Paille and will be their most recent release over with you, I would think. Just be warned that it won't be really sweet in style; partly because 14.5% alcohol is a requirement in Vin de Paille and partly because the French taste is to have not too sweet wines that they can drink as an aperitif or with foie gras, so many Vin de Paille wines are quite unexpectedly medium sweet at most. I think it will be from the three usual Vin de Paille grapes: Chardonnay, with a little Savagnin and the red Poulsard ... sorry don't have any recent notes to hand.

Also a Cremant Jura from Rolet...do you all think it might be worth trying? Only $23 Cdn.

Rolet are a large (by Jura standards) family domaine in the Jura with about 70 hectares and a lot will be Chardonnay. Their range of Crémants is very consistent indeed, mostly 100% Chardonay. Their best is called Coeur du Chardonnay, but I suspect you've found their 'basic' one. Should be dry, crisp, gently bubbly and quite appley in flavour. Crémant du Jura usually offers excellent value and is sold at about €6 - €7 direct from the producer for basic cuvées and up to €10 for the better ones.

Peter, nice line up. Some of these wines are really hard to find.
MT Chappaz is regularly doing a quite impressive job with her wines. I particularly enjoy the mineral Fendant crus from Martigny (limestone) and Fully (Granit). Her Petite Arvines, be they dry (Grain Blanc) or sweet (Grain Noble) are among the best you can find from the Valais. They are as good as they are difficult to find.

Peter,

Cornalin and Humagne are two distinct Valaisan varieties. Here is a link to an excellent cantonal website which explains the varieties and a lot more - http://www.lesvinsduvalais.ch/de/cepages/ .

In fact the story is a bit complicated. Apparently there exists two different varieties that both are called Cornalain, one in Valais and the other in the neighbouring Aosta Valley (neighbouring, but separated by the mighty Mont Blanc massive). Here's a link to the abstract of an article by Vouillamoz et. al that reports from an investigation of the relationship between some of the local varieties. According to the article Cornalain from Valais is likely to be the parent of the Cornalain the Aosta Valley, which, in fact, is identical to Humagne Rouge. Quite a lot of crossbreeding have evidently occurred in these rather isolated and remote regions.
Cheers,
Anders