ZIWA Winelovers visit Hoecklistein vineyard for tasting

On Thursday 5 September 2019, some 20 or more members of the ZIWA Winelovers group and their partners were invited to tour the Hoecklistein vineyard in Kempraten, and taste some of their Swiss wines. See Hoecklistein opposite for full report:

Wednesday 15 May 2019, Burgundy Tasting with Magnus Vinum

A joint ZIWA and AWCZ event in May 2019 presented yesterday evening by Tim Magnus of Magnus Vinum. After an apero of Cremant de Bourgogne, members of ZIWA's Wine Lovers group tasted four whites and five red wines. See link on right:

Wednesday 13 March 2019, Italian Wine Tasting Berry Bros

I'm just adding a page about a wine tasting in London last month at Berry Bros & Rudd. Laura and Dan kindly invited us to join them. See link right:

Monday 28 May, South African wine tasting for ZIWA

On Thursday 24 May, the ZIWA Wine Lovers' group held a tasting of South African wines provided by Viniversum, a local wine seller.The occasion was organised and hosted by Bina Shah, and I assisted her and provided the food. Fifteen wine group members and eight of their partners enjoyed the spring evening at Bina's atelier in Binz.

We learnt a great deal about South African wines and the history of its wine production from Paul and Manfred from Viniversum. See link right to South African wines for details of all the wines we tasted and how I rated them.

Thursday 17 May 2018, a few German wines

Last weekend we visited Munich and tasted some delicious German wines. The white wines such as Riesling, Chardonnay, Sylvaner, are well-known, but we also tried a couple of German reds. Have a look at the link: German wines, or see the link list right.

Wikipedia also suggests these well-known wine regions:
German wine regions

When I lived in UK, our town, Hitchin, was twinned with Bingen am Rhein, and we enjoyed visiting the German town and its environs, and tasting wines from the Nahe region. We have also visited the town of Trier and tasted the Piesporter wines from the Moselle region.

Evi Hock, the former Wine Discovery chairlady, also introduced us to the wines from the Franconian region, with their distinctively-shaped bottles.

Tuesday 1 May 2018, Open Wine Cellars at Schipf Winery

Red wines at Schipf are stored in wooden barrels

Today was the Day of the Open Wine Cellars along the Zurichsee. We took the boat from Thalwil to Erlenbach and had a 15 minute walk to the Schipf Winery, where they has tastings and a grill. See this link:
http://www.offeneweinkeller.ch/home/



We tasted four whites and four reds. We ordered a case each of the Raeuschling 2016 and the Pinot Noir "Clevner" 2015, which will be ready to collect next week.

Wines from the Schipf winery available for tasting today

One of our earliest days out with the ZIWA Wine Discovery group was to this winery. It was organised by chairladies Nancy Callaway and Philippa Keller. Philippa's husband Hans-Walter had a family connection with the 600-year old vineyard. It hasn't changed much. Kaspar von Meyenburg and his family still own the vineyard. www.schipf.ch

Thursday 19 April, note about ZIWA Winelovers event

On Thursday 24 May at 18.00, the ZIWA Wine Lovers group is hosting a tasting event for members. It features South African wines chosen by Zurich vintners Viniversum.

You can read a short summary of some of their wines exhibited at Expovina Primavera 2018 at the link right.

Monday 9 April 2018, Open Wine Cellars announced

This morning in the post we received an invitation and details about the Open Wine Cellars. These traditionally take place at the start of May, and this year there will be three dates: 1, 5 and 6 May.

May 2012 Open Wines

See this link for more information: Open Wine Cellars 2018. These events take place in the German wine regions of Switzerland. In the past we have attended many of the openings in the Zurich area and in particular around the Zurichsee. The vineyards taking part are all listed on the website. They often provide entertainment too.




Check out public transport possibilities to make the most of one or more tastings!

Sunday 1 April, Easter Sunday thoughts

In answer to my email to the Wine Lovers group about my wine blog, I had a nice reply from Barbara Strobel. She recommended some Swiss events to look out for:

'After an easy hike in our area yesterday I discovered WORRENBERG vineyards www.worrenberg.net; they have a Traubenblütenfest with wine tastings in their vineyard - 30th June and 1st July.' So have a look at their link. You can get a bus from Andelfingen to Volken.

Barbara added:

'However, enticing -for me- are the following: www.routegourmande.ch  on Saturday 8th September - I have done something similar before which involves walking between tasting and imbibing stops—I will go this year hopefully...' This year's walk is in the wine region of Montreux-Vevey.

... 'and in the Tessin for another cultural gem is the PaneVino wine festival in Intragna on September 9th!'

Thank you Barbara. You've always given me good tips.

Thursday 29 March 2018

Today our first case of 12 wines from Expovina Primavera arrived, bright and early! The Hootenanny New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc came in its distinctive tartan. Can't wait to try it!

Wednesday 28 March - Expovina Primavera 2018 wines

Yesterday we went to taste wines for the second time. This time we tried Spanish, Portuguese, Israeli and Italian wine. There was a lot of variety there this year. You can see all the tasting notes of both visits on the right hand link.

On our first visit on 23 March we tried some of the South African wines that the ZIWA Wine Lovers will be tasting on 24 May, at Bina's Atelier in Binz.

Wednesday 14 March - Expovina Primavera

A reminder that the Spring Wine Tasting event at Zurich's Puls 5 arena - Expovina Primavera - takes place from Wednesday 21 March to Wednesday 28 March. Entrance tickets are available from many participating wine merchants, or you can pay at the door. It's always a great opportunity to taste a wide variety of wines, many from small wine areas around the world, in spacious surroundings. See you there!

See this link: http://www.expovina.ch/expovina-primavera/willkommen/

Wine tasting event in Rapperswil 9 March 2018

I missed this event! A three-day Swiss wine tasting event was arranged at Rapperswil Castle, and a late Friday afternoon visit was hosted for ZIWA by Winelovers Iris and Joanne. I hear it was very successful, and the wine was free to holders of the Coop Card. After browsing and sampling at the wine tasting stands, a large number of the newly-formed ZIWA Winelovers made their way down to Ristorante San Marco for dinner of their choice.

Christine Gilbert issued a comprehensive introduction to Swiss wines from the Valais region. I believe she obtained the information from Wikipedia. See link on the right - but it's still a work in progress.