Days of Wine and Beer
I give Geneva a pretty hard time, but it is a nice place to live. Once in awhile, everything comes together and you have what can only be described as a “perfect day.” I had one of those a weekend ago. On Saturday May 24th, Geneva had its Caves Ouvertes or open cellars at vineyards across the region. Basically, all the wineries open their doors and offer free tastings to the public. Some of my friends from the Hash were planning on attending, so I joined in on the fun. There are several outlying regions of the city which make wine (Swiss are known for their whites, though the reds are nothing) and the least touristy/busy of the bunch are also where the estates are quite spread out. Wanting to avoid the heavier traffic, we headed to the countryside by bike. All told, some twenty-two people were in our posse, and the weather ended up being perfect. It started out overcast with a bit of drizzle, but that quickly passed and we had cool but clear weather.
Having spent my previous weekend at another regional wine-tasting in Mont-sur-Rolle (a bit before Lausanne on the train), I assumed Geneva’s event would be similar: pay a few Swiss francs for a glass and then travel around to various places and sample their wares. At that location, the vineyards are much closer together and the public transport is amazing: they literally drive you to whichever vintner you wish to visit and will come pick you up whenever you want. Some of the places have baked goods to munch on while tasting, but nothing fancy.
Geneva, however, far exceeded my expectations. Despite the lack of an easy way to get around (bikes and cars excepted), all else was wonderful. There was no paying for a glass: everything was completely and utterly free. And while most places had some simple cheese and bread available, they also had much more. Our first stop offered grilled sausages (3 varieties!). Another offered free raclette (a Swiss dish that is basically melted cheese over potatoes). Another allowed you to take and empty bottle; place it on an assembly line; and watch as it was filled, capped, and labeled before you collected it and kept it. For free!
So by the end of the day, we’d been to about 6 or 7 different wineries, had full stomachs and had paid absolutely nothing (excepting any bottles of wine bought along the way). This is probably just about the best “deal” I’ve ever found in Geneva. I only wish I’d been able to go last year as well.
Of course, the previous weekend also had its own charm. The Mont-sur-Rolle tasting (with a small group of Hashers as well) was a lot of fun, and that came on the heels of a beer festival.
A few friends from YAGs and I took a one-and-a-half hour trainride to Martigny to experience the Fête de la Bière. We didn’t really know what to expect, but we found a 70s-style community/convention center type of building filled with beers from around the world and the least pretentious crowd I’ve ever come across in Switzerland. My kind of people.
We each paid a few francs for a glass and then bought tokens (in the form of bottle caps) to exchange for tastings of different beers. There were stations set up all around the perimeter of the building according to regions of the world. My find of the night was a Belgian brown that’s an 11 percenter! Amazing.
They also had live bands playing from a pair of stages in the center of the floor.
All in all, it was a fun evening a great way to spend time with friends (especially church friends).
Here are a couple of Rob’s pics:
Kate’s well-planned train journey with raspberries and sparkling wine...
Cheers!
Mmmm… beer.
Having spent my previous weekend at another regional wine-tasting in Mont-sur-Rolle (a bit before Lausanne on the train), I assumed Geneva’s event would be similar: pay a few Swiss francs for a glass and then travel around to various places and sample their wares. At that location, the vineyards are much closer together and the public transport is amazing: they literally drive you to whichever vintner you wish to visit and will come pick you up whenever you want. Some of the places have baked goods to munch on while tasting, but nothing fancy.
Geneva, however, far exceeded my expectations. Despite the lack of an easy way to get around (bikes and cars excepted), all else was wonderful. There was no paying for a glass: everything was completely and utterly free. And while most places had some simple cheese and bread available, they also had much more. Our first stop offered grilled sausages (3 varieties!). Another offered free raclette (a Swiss dish that is basically melted cheese over potatoes). Another allowed you to take and empty bottle; place it on an assembly line; and watch as it was filled, capped, and labeled before you collected it and kept it. For free!
So by the end of the day, we’d been to about 6 or 7 different wineries, had full stomachs and had paid absolutely nothing (excepting any bottles of wine bought along the way). This is probably just about the best “deal” I’ve ever found in Geneva. I only wish I’d been able to go last year as well.
Of course, the previous weekend also had its own charm. The Mont-sur-Rolle tasting (with a small group of Hashers as well) was a lot of fun, and that came on the heels of a beer festival.
A few friends from YAGs and I took a one-and-a-half hour trainride to Martigny to experience the Fête de la Bière. We didn’t really know what to expect, but we found a 70s-style community/convention center type of building filled with beers from around the world and the least pretentious crowd I’ve ever come across in Switzerland. My kind of people.
We each paid a few francs for a glass and then bought tokens (in the form of bottle caps) to exchange for tastings of different beers. There were stations set up all around the perimeter of the building according to regions of the world. My find of the night was a Belgian brown that’s an 11 percenter! Amazing.
They also had live bands playing from a pair of stages in the center of the floor.
All in all, it was a fun evening a great way to spend time with friends (especially church friends).
Here are a couple of Rob’s pics:
Kate’s well-planned train journey with raspberries and sparkling wine...
Cheers!
Mmmm… beer.
posted by Aaron at 4:17 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home