I am sure members of this forum are familiar with good wines.

I am puzzled by the fact that swiss people boasted about their wine. But to me, it is far from any thing you can write home.

Does anyone have other comments, or perphaps recommend a couple of wines that we can try tasting ? and change our minds ?

D

What kinds of swiss wines have you been trying? There is quite a variation.

Ditto French wines.

Cheers,
Nick

Your best bet is to buy Spanish wines from the Priorat, Ribera del Duero or Rioja regions, or Italian wines from the Veneto (Amarone), Valpolicella (Sforzato), Piedmont (Barbera), Tuscany (Brunello) etc. regions.

Switzerland makes some nice white wines, but I only use white wine for cooking. Red wine its where its at for me. They also make soem Pinot Noir, but in comparison to the Pinot I've had in California it is not as complex and satisfying to me...

France has some excellent reds too, but you have to know where to get what (that is quality can really differ even within the same vintage - in my experience), with Italian and Spanish wines it is much easier to end up with a winner.

My 2 cents.

honestly, I do not pocess the volcabruary of wine tasters nor conaussuiaries. but I do loves wines that I taste well. Strangely in eought, I love wines from Bourdaux region.

But wines recommended to me in Ch area, esp the young and fresh ones in the region of 2004 are some thing different than expected.

M

I would call many of the Swiss reds "farmer wine". But I'm from California and am accustomed to the best. Here, wines from Montepulciano are my favorite. I choose Barolos and Brunellos whenever I want to be sure. I admit I am ignorant about French Wines. The only ones I dig are St. Juliens, but that is a concocted recipe of various wines.

thank you stephanwolf.

you are quite right, when I no choice, I rather pick the Italian wine. I love Piedmont, even it is the cooking grade.

Not anything particular, but it tastes better than the others.

M

Try a Cornalin. You might like that. But, if you're looking for Bordeaux type wines, you won't really find anything like them here. Though there are some nice, inexpensive merlots from Ticino.

Try the Pinot Noirs from Salgesch, Maienfeld and Aesch. Some of these can be decent in a good year. But, a Pinot is going to taste a bit thin when you're wanting the heft of a Bordeaux.

Definitely try the wines from Piedmont in Italy.

Where is the "Let me pass out while I roll around the floor laughing incontrollably" button ?

Sorry, but the best pinots from the US come from Oregon.

I think a lot of the good swiss wines you can't buy from Coop, you'd have to go to one of the wine specialty shops that are in and around Zurich.

That's why you want to go for a Humagne Rouge.

Whilst I'm not a big fan of Swiss wines, I have had a few great reds from Bonvin in Sion.

I'm more used to the 'big' reds from Australia and New Zealand and hence find Swiss, US or French wines a little lacking in oomph.

Barbra.

Good wine requires lots of sunlight. To find the best wines in CH, find the most sunlit place.... that would be Ticino.

on behalf of Phos to Mk2, there is a description called "farmer's wine".
and if there such a button, please tell us know where we can fine it so that we can all avoid pressing it, for I believe wine is just a tools for having a great or good time during food among friends or yourself, and I am sure hosts are eager not to place the button at their disposal.

M

Of course there is.

A friend rents parts of his land in Umbria to local farmers. They grow grapes, which they press and ferment in these large spherical bottles. You can find spiders, insects, leaves, and caterpillars in those bottles. But they at least strain it out before serving.

Those wines (farmer wines) are very harsh. But they prefer it that way. They wouldn't have it any other way. It's part of their culinary philosophy that dates back to the Estruscans.

Anyway, a lot of the Swiss reds are like this.

And yes, California private collections are the best.

Your point is, caller?

That you smell like pee, perhaps?

Which one of the two bottles you tasted you liked better?

Some cheese with that whine?

Oh.. That's almost funny. Keep trying.

Anyway, the best thing to do with wine is learn by tasting. After a glass of awful wine, the normal quality ones seem to become acceptable.