The wine used by the Catholic Church in celebrations of the Eucharist.
Altar wine
Glossary by Letter
The Wine Grapes of Switzerland
Gewürztraminer
The name Gewürztraminer is obviously German, although the origin of the grape is the Tyrollean Alps, near the village of Termeno (Tramin) in Alto Adige, Italy. Gewürz is German for spice. The vine is evidently a pain in the ass to grow and does best in cooler climates. In Germany the wine of this grape is often made off-dry, in Alsace it’s dry and floral, and in Switzerland it produces a wide range. Gewürztraminer is one of the most pungent wine varietals and reasonably easy to identify with just your nose. It is one of the few wine that can hold its own with spicy Asian food.
Humagne Blanche
Only planted in Valais today, Humagne blanche* is another of the very old Swiss grapes, probably brought in by the Romans. Having a high iron content, and supposedly health-giving properties, this wine was decreed a “health wine” (Krankenwein) for centuries. The old written documents in which this wine is referred to as vinum hum-anum date from the 12th and 14th Centuries. It’s also called Kinderbettenwein or baby crib wine. I’ll bet those kids didn’t have much to cry about.
*no relation to the Humagne Rouge
Regent
Regent is a very practical red grape. It matures early, is resistant to disease, needs little protection, and makes a decent wine. Cool.
One not only drinks the wine, one smells it, observes it, tastes it, sips it and--one talks about it.
King Edward VII
