Articles and information about traveling in Switzerland with a slight skew toward discovering some of the many good wines produced in Switzerland.
A Föhn is a weather phenomenon that influences the climate throughout Europe and in Switzerland makes it possible to grow grape varieties in regions that would otherwise be inhospitable.
The Föhn is a dry wind that blows down the leeward slopes of mountains. The word Föhn is a generic German term originally just applied to winds in the European Alps, but Föhn is now used for all similar winds such as the Chinook in the U.S. Rockies.
It's rare to describe a museum as “welcoming”, but the Viticulture Museum is welcoming. Located on the peninsula Au (near Wädenswil) on Lake Zürich, the Viticulture Museum is both a museum and a focal point for people interested in Swiss wine and wine making. It offers both a historical perspective as well as addressing changes confronting Swiss winemakers today. On the day I visited they held a demonstration of barrel making, which is an endangered craft: there are currently three barrel makers in Switzerland and only one apprentice.
Established in 1472, the Gasthaus Bad Osterfingen is a large Inn and small wine producer in Schaffhausen (which is close to Zurich). This county restaurant has a beautiful garden, cozy “Säli”, an Art Nouveau banquet room, and two “Bauernstil”, or country-style rooms: a “Stüblli”, and a tasting room.
Have a designated driver, it's not easily accessible with public transport.
Website link to Bad Osterfingen
Blauburgunder, did I hear you ask? Why you ask, is Schaffhausen’s nickname of Blauburgunderland? Well, because Blauburgunder - or Pinot noir for the rest of us - is by far the dominant wine grape in Schaffhausen.
Red wine makes up nearly 70% of wine production in Schaffhausen, and most of that is Pinot noir, some of which finds itself in a very nice late-harvest wine. There is also Cabernet Sauvignon, Diolinoir, Garanoir, Merlot, and Regent; not to mention Dorenoir, which is a blend of Pinot noir, Regent (itself a cross), and Dornfelder.
With the exception of the small cooperatives around Spiez, when you refer to the Bern wine region, you are speaking of the area around Lake Biel. Here on the shores of the lake, monasteries and nobles have been making wine since the Middle Ages. With the reformation in the 16th century, ownership ended up in the hands of the state, or the merchants from Bern and Biel. Since then ownership has shifted to the citizens living around the lake.
