Wine is an elusive never-ending journey. Like art, each person has their dislikes/likes. Some say they only drink white, some say they're only feeling red at the moment, and some can't even drink anymore of it because they had too much of the 'cheap stuff'. The one thing I can say though is coming from a 'smallish' city in Canada (although one of the best places in Canada to find some wine), exploring and trying new wines is difficult, expensive, and frustrating.
Now imagine this, you're moving to Europe to a city near wine regions such as Burgundy, Alsace, Baden, and Piedmont. Endless amount of Chablis, Gewurztraminer, Riesling, and Barbaresco at the local grocery. The ability to try something new is exciting yet daunting! The average bottle of wine (avg. quality, whatever that means in Europe haha) in Switzerland is ~11euros, or 17CAD$, 50% cheaper than the grocery store in Calgary. Overall, more options, less expensive, and better quality.
In terms of Swiss wine, apparently only 2% of the wine produced in the region is exported. I looked around Calgary for Swiss wine but what I was told was I had to expect spending more than $100 for the bottle :/ Trying the different wines in Switzerland should be interesting and fun! Also, apparently the Swiss are one of the biggest spenders on wine, spending $700/year as compared to the French and Italian spending $300/year.
So my challenge (and hopefully my classmates/friends who want to join in) is to explore and note different wines while in Switzerland! One year, 52 bottles, and a thirst to take full advantage of location. I'm not sure whether its going to be one bottle a week, or get a few friends and try 5-6 at a time? Keep it to the region, or try different grapes with similar styles? If Covid has been resolved by next year, our class is hoping to make some group wine weekends to some famous regions.
Are there some wines that we should try? What are some beautiful wine towns you've visited? Do you think Vivino has some of these wines in its database!?
You had me at merlot ;)
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