Swiss vineyards in Vaud

Near St. Saphorin, looking to Lake Geneva

Very little is known outside Switzerland about Swiss wines, especially about any varieties. Indeed, we have only learned about wine in Switzerland upon moving here. This site (in English) about Swiss wine gives a good overview. I posted earlier about how every Spring, "Caves Ouvertes" occur throughout the area (see "Caves Ouvertes"), providing locals and novices alike the chance to sample wine outdoors by the "caves." That is always a fun time! In the meantime, we have seen many vineyards on the northside of Lake Geneva, especially near Montreux - this is the Vaud region.

One sunny day recently, we decided to take a drive and look around. We parked near the lake, and took some photos lakeside (between Chexbres and St. Saphorin), and then made our way towards St. Saphorin, which is uphill away from the lake.

Vineyard in between Chexbres and St. Saphorin

Being on a Sunday, it was very tranquil, especially the further up we got up away from the lake. Despite the haziness, which made it hard to see the Alps across the lake, we still had fantastic views. 

Vineyard and Lake Geneva

In some cases, it seemed like the vineyard went right down to the lake.

There are many walled paths that criss-cross along the hillside. You can walk for hours and get yourself lost up there. Although, you do have to keep your wits about you, as you can quickly and unexpectedly come across a narrow road with traffic.

Walled paths, looking down at St.Saphorin. Ryan is seated on the bench

Looking towards Vevey and Montreux

Seems like land is highly valued around this area - any small piece of land was turned into a space to grow vines!

"Vineyard" and shed

Our friends Mark and Stacy visited us in the Spring, and recommended we take time to visit this area, and we are glad we took time to spend time there, after driving by many times. 

Thirsty, anyone?

Gardening on the top floor

The 1st March is St. David's Day, the celebration in Wales of its patron saint, St. David. Being out of Wales means you don't really celebrate this day at all (there are a few exceptions, e.g. in the US: http://www.wales.com/en/content/cms/English/St_Davids_Day/Events/Events.aspx) but I do get daffodils - actually, Ryan buys them for me.  Last year, he found this tiny daffodils on 1st March. When they died off, we stuck them in a window ledge and actually forgot about them. That's because this ledge has nothing on it in the autumn and winter but pigeons strutting around, and then in spring and summer, it fills up with - well - weedy looking plants. However, I was delighted to find these growing this year:

Little daffodils on our neglected window ledge

Daffodils among the weeds on our window ledge; school in background

Ryan is more of a gardener than I.  As we live on the top floor of an apartment building in the city, Ryan really misses having a proper garden. However, we figured we could grow some things in pots.

We have a balcony where, this year, we will grow tomatoes, peppers, basil, rosemary and other herbs. (Herbs here are so expensive! You really feel ripped off when you pay 2CHF or more for a tiny spring of something!) Last year we tested it out, and while the conditions were harsh at times (wind, rain, sleet, hail... you name it!), most things grew well there. As the weather has improved here now, we need to do some gardening out there.

We also grew some flowers last Spring, and here are flowers from last year, and the basil, parsley and tomatoes:

Kitchen window ledge flowers

The tomatoes and herbs section

Sadly, our cilantro ("coriandre") did not fare well. We thought we'd be safe 7 floors up, but we learned from locals that there was an aphid of some sort, possibly from the soil, that attacked the plant. We managed to use some when the plant was in its infancy, but it quickly declined. The parsley suffered too - although I did make a batch of tabbouli. The basil was fine though, and I made a few batches of pesto.
However, we will learn from last year, and enjoy our balcony and its products!

Bon match, Allez Suisse!

Last week we went to Davis Cup tennis. We watched a doubles match and a singles match between Switzerland and Czech Republic. As the event was held in a convention center, I had wondered what the atmosphere would be like. When we walked in, we were immediately impressed with the patriotic show of display exhibited by the Swiss fans. We were expecting people to wear red or some kind of Swiss gear, but people went far beyond that!

There were definitely a few memorable fans, such as the lady adorned in flags, cowbells, fringes, ribbons, flowers, pom poms, and cows, the men in their Swiss flag jackets, and the younger guys dressed up as cows:

At the front, you could choose to have a raclette plate or pasta dish, plus tarts and sandwiches. And of course wine or beer too. We tried the raclette plate, which was a great snack that actually didn't break the bank!

I could go on about the food and drink, but back to the tennis.

All of a sudden, we heard a group of people come in, singing, blowing horns and banging a drum: the Czech fans had arrived. There were not many of them, but they made up for it in noise! They really caused quite a scene coming in. When we took our seats, we found out that we were behind the Czech fans. I think the group's noise actually drove the Swiss fans to increase their noise level as well during the matches.

The Czech group

The tennis teams entered onto the court, to many cheers and much applause. The first match we sawa was the doubles match between Wawrinka and Chuidinelli of Switzerland versus Berdych and Rosol of Czech Republic.

Switzerland on the left; Czech Republic on the right

Now the fun began! I can only imagine how loud it would have been if Federer had played - as it was, the Swiss fans really showed true vocal support of their team.

It was apparent in the first set that these teams were pretty evenly matched. It was hard for each team to break each other's serve, so the match was pretty exciting from the start. The first four sets were 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-7. But that was nothing compared to the fifth set! As we later found out, this turned out to be the longest Davis cup match ever played, clocking in at just over seven hours (http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-02-02/sports/sns-rt-us-tennis-davis-recordbre9110dn-20130202_1_doubles-rubber-czechs-world-group) with Czech Republic finally winning the match with 24 games to 22 in the fifth set. 

The next day, Wawrinka and Berdych played a singles match, and they must have been pretty tired to say the least! We saw a lot of the same fans we'd seen the day before, including the Czech contingent (who were warned a lot by the umpire for drum banging, horn waving, flag waving etc. during the games).

Wawrinka in action

Berdych's toss is really high

This match was not as evenly matched as the previous day's, as Berdych was in pretty good form. But Wawrinka did a good job, and seemed to enjoy home country support that day!
The match was won by Berdych in 4 sets, to the dismay of the predominantly Swiss crowd, but they respectfully applauded at the end. And the Czech fans brought out the biggest flag I think I've ever seen!

Big Czech flag for Berdych's win!