Pro hotel/ restaurant in the middle of nowhere in Switzerland

Hey, Michael

You forgot the vital bit of info - the name and address of this fine establishment

It seems that it is the sort of place I (and others like me) would care to visit.

Cheers

s.helier

Im on a business trip in Switzerland. first in the "German part", where food options were horrible and prices even more so, and wine by the glass was laughable (not worth noting). Then I drove 200km west tot eh french part, where my next meeting is. Meeting a snow storm on the way, but I made it for dinner 20:30. First thing that catches my eye, is that its in the middle of nowhere, with a renault autoshop and gas station as neighbours. then I spot a chevy Camero in the parking lot! And my rental Renault Escape with fully featured touchscreen, gps, camera , vicinity sensors, and automatic remotecontrol key, is the least impressive car.

Inside the decorations are very peculiar, and very wood based like Ive only seen at Sequoia National park before. The room as I walked in was bigger than the room + bathroom in the german part, even if two days here cost hte same as one in the german part. What I havent seen yet is that around hte corner theres a little relaxation corner with a coffee table and more wood decorations, and two victorian arm chairs. facing a balcony with two chairs and a table, overlooking a lake. Then I see the bathroom which is bigger than the room I had in the german part.

Then I realize that its probably like france, where restaurants close early. And I check the hotel information book, which is covered in wood. and Im right. it closes at 21:00. So I hurry down, dreading what the fod will cost. in the german part lame boring food cost a fortune.

Very decent meny. veal stew with grilled kidney, black rice, and mixed vegestables 22euro! Even better , wine by the glass has good wines like Saint Jopseph!

Saint-Joseph Terra Louis 2011 Domaine Gilles Flacher ****

My second saint joseph (first one being Guiagal which was horrible and ended up in the sauce) - this is much more like a young cornas, albeit more approachable. Right amount of oak to smooth things over, the dark acidic fruits, on top of a bed of smoky bacony paprika spice. washed the creamy texture of grilled kidneys away just fine.

Michael, the problem with St. Joseph (as with Crozes) is that there are essentially two different appellations with the same name. The St. Joseph that comes from the terraced slopes can be every bit as good as a good Cornas. OTOH, the stuff that comes from the alluvial floodplains of the Rhone will never be better than plonk and definitely inferior to a good Cote du Rhone. For my tastes (and many others') the finest producer working there now is the Gonon brothers, but their wines are getting pricier by the year. Other quality producers are Faury, Faurie and Chave. There's a lot of change happening in St. Joseph right now, and a lot of that is positive. Some up-and-coming producers are Aurelien Chatagnier, Dom. de la Cote Sainte-Epine, Dom. des Pierres Seches, Dom. les Alexandrins and SCEA La Tache.

Mark Lipton