wine in Switzerland

Buy chocolate and forget the wine. Or buy French and German wines.

I think you'll agree after you taste a few local wines, I'm sorry to say.

Shaun Eli

there are good Swiss wines, but you will pay dearly for even the limited quality. In run I agree with Brain, French or German depending on your tastes (note, as a rule everthing is more expensive in Switzerland)

Joseph wrote on Tue, 13 Feb 2007 19:27:00 -0500:

JC> Furious Shepherd wrote: ??>> I'll be travelling to Basel, Switzerland in March and ??>> would like to bring home a bottle or two of wine. Living ??>> in Pennsylvania, I'm very limited in what I can buy at the ??>> local (state run) wine stores. I expect that I'll buy some ??>> Riesling & Gewurtz but I'd love to hear some suggestions. ??>> Looking for inexpensive to moderate price range. ??>>

JC> there are good Swiss wines, but you will pay dearly for JC> even the limited quality. In run I agree with Brain, French JC> or German depending on your tastes (note, as a rule JC> everthing is more expensive in Switzerland)

Fendant always seems attractive in Switzerland but it's hardly worthwhile bringing home. It just does seem as good out of its native land :-)

James Silverton Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not

Basel is very close to some of best locations in Alsace. So if you had the time, you could take a train/ bus or drive to these places, visit winemakers or cooperatives, buy wines, etc. The same holds true for the Baden region in Germany.

Switzerland is, as others point out, expensive. However Basel is right on the border with Germany and France. So the city itself has French and German parts. You could thus find wines (or other products) in supermarkets/ shops in the French or German areas at French or German prices. If you are looking for French wines, naturally the French stores will be excellent; but for German or Italian wines, German stores will offer better choice. Switzerland (together with Belgium) is one of the best places to buy Bordeaux, so don't discount the wine stores in Basel's Swiss downtown/ parts.

If you have an evening free, do think of visiting Cafe des Arts just off the Barfussplatz. It's pricey but absolutely brilliant!

Cheers

Disagree.

Canton Ticino has an even better climate than Valtellina (which is dry alpine, wherear Ticino is practically mediterranean, i.e. there are palm trees). The Merlot there is truly delicious.

Also bear in mind that most Valtellina wine is made for the Swiss market. In Italy the wines of Valtellina have only recently become a little bit more known, but by far the lion's share of the production goes over the border.

Riesling & Gewur_z_ are not Swiss, but German & Alsace (for the first) and Alsace (for the second grape variety).

The best Swiss white I ever had was a Petite Arvine from the Canton Valais vinified without malo, can't remember the producer. The best Swiss reds are Merlots from Ticino, as Mike mentioned, but they are absolutely impossible to find (and command prices in the range of top notch Bordeaux).

Hmmm.

Foggedaboutit that as fast as possible if you think about anything else than undrinkable plonk. But even this latter is *much* more expensive in Switzerland than everywhere else in Europe.

M.

Since I never heard much about Swiss wines, I expected to come home with either German or French wines. Everyone seems to agree that I'll need to leave Switzerland to avoid overpaying. I was planning on making a side trip into Germany (probably Karlsruhe) and will shop there for my wine.

Thanks to everyone for the helpful comments.

Don't know specifically about Basel, but Switzerland traditionally is an very good source for correctly priced Bordeaux and Burgundy, also with a good choice of vintages. Karlsruhe, otoh, would be the place to go for German wines.

M.

Without malo, that is the key, many swiss whites go through malo and become too flat and lifeless... when in fact they would have been fine with the bite of malic acid...

The best swiss I ever had was also a Petite Arvine, botrytis, by Cave Liaudissaz.

Thanks Mike. Any suggestions on producers or (if there are such things in Tessin) negociants?

Cheers

I was in Basel a couple of months ago -- didn't come across any wines that really impressed me, but I'm certainly no authority! I'd like to know what your final selections are...

One cautionary note: plan on packing the wine in checked baggage (shudder!), because you won't get it through security in carry-on.

Good luck!

Bart

I stand corrected. What I probably should have said is something like "Your odds of randomly choosing a good wine for the price are likely to be much lower than in many other countries known for their wine."

In any event, if you do opt to bring wines home, putting the bottles inside pants legs may make them less likely to slide around other clothing-- because sometimes bottles shift and if one ends up towards the outside of a soft suitcase it could get smashed.

It's rare-- bottles are pretty strong-- but it does occasionally happen.

If you're certain you're going to bring wine home you might consider either buying a wine shipping carton (either here or there) or carrying bubble wrap and duct tape.