“So how good was the 2008 Swiss wine harvest?”

Well, thank you for asking, because it was a close one. The hail storms in some areas of Switzerland didn’t cause too much damage, but the bad weather in the early fall had the Swiss wine growers skittish. Fortunately Bacchus proved accommodating. A pleasant Indian summer followed with gentle breezes and sunny days. In the end the Swiss wine growers were more than satisfied.

Warm sunny days and cool evenings are ideal for wine grapes. The grapes are able to mature, develop excellent sugar levels, and be harvested at the best time of the year. Although, “not the best we've seen these past ten years," says Thierry Walz, a member of the Swiss Wine Exporters' Association, but comparable to 2006, one of the best recent vintages. The Chasselas and Pinot Noir grapes particularly benefited.

Yields were 3.5% higher as well, according to the Swiss Department of Agriculture, up roughly 35, 000 hectoliters to 1, 075,561 hectoliters .

A hangout for artists and intelligentsia; wine, wisdom, and song has flowed in the ancient oak-paneled Oepfelchammer on the Rindermarkt in Zürich for two hundred years. Nicknamed the “Oeli”, it’s the oldest unchanged wine tavern (Weinstube) in Zürich.

Wine is like jazz, it can have finesse, variety, nuance, and surprise. terroir is one the players in the band. What is terroir , and should we care? The answer is yes, no, and it’s a matter of opinion. Many opinions. Just like jazz.

First we need to agree what terroir is. I say agree - and not define, because terroir is one of those concepts that’s hard to nail down because it can have an almost philosophical quality. The word terroir is French for soil. Simple enough, but the concept “terroir ” in the context of wine encompasses numerous factors that influence the taste of wine.

An introductory wine course is being offered by the Académie du Vin, in cooperation with COOP - the largest wine retailer in Switzerland. The Académie is an independent Swiss organization that is affiliated with the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET), and provides a series of their own courses, as well as the full WSET certification program.

Although not a requirement for starting out on the certification process, this course is a good starting off point, and equally interesting for those of us wanting to improve our wine knowledge, or for the absolute beginner to get a bit of the mystery around wine removed. At present these courses are only offered in the regional language, i.e. German in Zurich.