The hardest thing about wine tasting is spitting it out, so I don’t. It works for me.
On March 30th, 2008, I attended a wine tasting, part of a wine exposition in the Kongresshaus in Zurich. It was a joint effort by Austrian and Swiss wine marketers, and although there were one or two pinkies pointing in the air, the wine tasting was informal and didn’t take itself too seriously.
Part of the impetus for a joint Austrian-Swiss wine event this year must have been the joint Austrian-Swiss Euro cup football, and in that context there was a good natured competition between the Austrian and Swiss wines. In the end it was 3 – 4 in favor of Austria. Not a bad result for Switzerland though, in light of the fact that it has about 1/3 the amount of area under vine.
After the wine tasting I headed straight to the Swiss section of the exposition, and the 40 or so producers. I only had a few more wine-tastings in me before getting into trouble, so I made a point of sticking close to the Zurich wine region, but in the end I got “lost” and ended in Graubünden.
At about a thousand visitors a day, this wine event is not one of the “majors”, so you see more of the smaller producers, and in Switzerland that means really small. No marketing department, sales force, or logistics. Often the producers, and their friends, pick the grapes, press, or have them pressed, ferment and bottle the wine. And they also represent themselves at these expositions, so one should be careful about commenting on the wine: even something noncommittal can be akin to telling someone they have an ugly baby.
My first stop was Weingut Pircher. The winemaker was there, but I spent my time discussing wine and life with his assistant (“Mädchen für alles”), a friendly guy from Alsace, who’s day job is in IT.
The Weingut Pircher vineyards are on the shore of the Rhine River, near the town of Eglisau. The 6 ha of vineyard terraces are among the steepest vineyards in the Zurich wine region. Keeping production restricted to between 500 gr. and 600 gr. per m2 helps the quality, and I can’t help thinking it’s a bonus for the pickers since the steep terrain means it’s picked by hand.
Of the four white 2007 wines available for tasting: Rauschling, Riesling x Sylvaner, Pinot Gris, and Gewürztraminer, my choice was the Riesling x Sylvaner.
My second visit was with a amiable older couple representing the Gasthaus (Inn) and Wine producer, Bad Osterfingen, Schaffhausen (which is close to Zurich). The Gasthaus Bad Osterfingen is a county restaurant that also produces wine. The couple are one of the suppliers of grapes for the wine production, and they made a point of mentioning the restaurant, with it’s beautiful garden, cozy "Säli", an Art Nouveau banquet room, and two “Bauernstil”, or country style rooms : a "Stüblli", and a tasting room.
I have it on good authority (the couple), that the restaurant is superb.
From there I veered off course and ended up in Jenins, Graubünden. A stand marked “Vinotiv” caught my eye. Vinotiv, as I’ve now learned, is a collective of small wine makers from Graubünden, making Pinot Noir, in all it’s subtleties. Now we are talking really small producers. Here the wine labels bear a persons name. The one I tried was Annatina Pelizzatti.
I tried her Pinot noir, and a Pinot noir Barrique, both 2007. As I was trying the latter, I first noticed the name badge she wore was the same as the label on the bottle, so I only mentioned how much I liked the Barrique, and didn’t offer my opinion of the former. Irrespective of my lay-opinion, however, I checked her website, and most of her wine is sold out.
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