Icy, Iodine, Social, Sparkling, Tadpoles
The science behind bubbles
Hiking at home or further afield
I have a regular late afternoon hour-long hike, to build strength after three months of illness and enforced inactivity. One of my special spots is along the top edge of the vines in Venthône. Here’s to dusk in winter and vines that have snuggled down to rest. If you go earlier in the day, you’re likely to see the vignerons pruning right now, in most of the country. If you’re keen to try something new, SwitzerlandMobility has added 15 new winter routes for this season, throughout the country—snowshoe, hiking and skiing trails. They all look wonderful!
Social media and responsibility
For those of you who follow me on Facebook and Instagram, please note that I’m developing a plan to move off of there as soon as possible, and to develop a more complete Substack site for my non-wine work. I will also stop using What’s App, all of them part of Meta. Like many of you, I use these for work, and the decision was not easy to make—I’ll lose contacts, most likely some business and it takes time and energy to find workable alternatives. For others who are tempted to do the same: I’ll post my roadmap for how to do it, once I’m ready to move. I own an electric car but it isn’t a Tesla and I won’t be buying one.
I don’t want to add politics to the mix here, but I have decided that I need to take responsibility for my share of money going to Donald Trump through the owners of these companies. Every sponsored ad or click on them puts money directly in his coffers, thanks to contributions from Meta’s boss, and I think it’s naive to pretend that staying on these social media platforms doesn’t support Trump. I’m appalled by the US president’s personal and business practices and I don’t respect his politics, but I’ve disagreed with people before on theirs, and still carried on doing business with them. This is different: the man is unpredictable and completely unprincipled, a combination that is too dangerous to overlook and morally unacceptable to me. Rather than just complain, I believe it’s important to ensure Meta and Tesla don’t receive any money from me, to the extent I can.
My small gesture will inconvenience me and it won’t change the kamikaze course the president has put us all on, but I can live with myself, which is critical in order to start putting the brakes on this madness.
Wine picks - Muscat, Geneva; Petite Arvine gold
I’ve been severely handicapped for sampling wines for you, with three months of shingles and a two-week bout of Covid on top of that. No alcohol for me in December and January and it had nothing to do with dry months or depressing new research, both of which I think call for remembering that balance is the key to enjoying wine. Here are two white wines I have enjoyed recently, from Geneva and Valais:
Jean-Michel Novelle’s Iconique is the exception that reminds you why Muscat can be a delight to drink. Too often this aromatic grape is handled heavily and you end up with a wine that is like an over-perfumed guest. This Muscat, from Satigny in Geneva, is sharp and complex, aromatic but with an underlying dry tension that holds the aromas taut. The description on the back of the bottle is spot on: all lemon, lime, ginger and mandarine. I opened it the night an American politician decided to rename the Gulf of Mexico, and in protest I sat down with this fine wine and the Times Atlas of the World to make geography a little more concrete. Great companions.
Petite Arvine, native to Valais and rarely grown elsewhere, is one of my favourite Swiss wines, as you’ve probably guessed. Mont d’Or, which celebrated its 150th year in 2023, has produced its first certified organic version of Aphrodite. The nose is both floral and fruity, the mouth lively but it’s the finish I really love, with a classic slightly salty touch. The winery is on the main road from Sion to Vétroz (plenty of good hiking on the hillside above) and the vineyard is across the road, on the south side, Crête des Maladaires.
Out & about
This is a big weekend in Crans-Montana, with World Cup ski races on, featuring the re-opening of the legendary Nationale for speed runs. The pc7-team of airplanes doing aerial acrobatics is training in my backyard for their thrilling weekend show. The event itself is sold out, but the ski slopes are open, and bars and restaurants will be buzzing.
Wine tastings
The high season for tasting wine in Switzerland is underway, with wine road shows and classic events. The Memoire des Vins Suisses tastings are, for me, top of the list. The group is at the Lausanne Palace, Monday 10 March, 15-18:00 and the best news is that it’s free, if you register ahead. On your calendar: the related Swiss Wine Connection tastings are a chance to sample some of Switzerland’s best wines, 24 August for vintage tasting and 25 August for the Grand Tasting, in Zurich.
This is the 50th anniversary of Neuchatel’s delightful unfiltered Chasselas wine, with the bottles sporting a special upside down label. These wines now account for 15% of the canton’s wine output. You can sample them and learn about them at the Road Show 24-28 March. It’s an early wine, like Beaujolais Nouveau, but it doesn’t have to be drunk young. To prove the point, some vintage wines will be part of the August Swiss Wine Connection tasting.
Also coming up: Salon des Vins Vaudois, 3 March in Zurich, featuring a Masterclass (G) on alcohol-free wine. A wine challenge for you and your friends: see how well you can do with a series of blind wine tastings at Changins, the wine university in Vaud, 27 March, 17:30-20:00 (Swiss Association of Professional Sommeliers).
Here and there
It’s honeymoon season for frogs. They are currently crossing roads and byways to get back to the places where they lay their eggs. My own garden has a pond which will soon be home to frog spawn and by May, tadpoles. If you’re lucky enough to have some of these useful little (not noisy) creatures, and you wonder about feeding tadpoles, here’s a useful guide.
Winter has been so mild in January and February that it’s easy to forget we are likely to soon have icy conditions again. Axa has some good tips for drivers (E).
Now that the holidays are over, you might find it fun to scrap the romance about sparkling wines and take a look at the science behind bubbles.
Salt and iodine (how much you need, depending on age). Did you know that 88% of households around the world get their salt through iodised salt? But with fancier salts that are often not iodised, an increase in processed foods (most of which are not iodised), and people trying to reduce their salt intake, iodine deficiency is on the rise in North America. If you live in Switzerland you should be aware that iodine is not mandatory in salt: look for it on the label.
Ellen’s World View
