Bonvin et Varon 'Bibacchus' Heida 2008

Valais, CHF16.90, crappy plastic cork
Another wine from Valais. This time a bottle of Heida; a rare Swiss grape variety that is a close relative of Savagnin. Apparently Heida, or Païen as it's known in French, happily grows at an altitude of over 1100m making it the highest grown grape variety in Europe. This is produced by a company called Bonvin et Varon who apparently haven't got a website.

Bonvin et Varon 'Bibacchus' Heida 2008 is a light straw yellow colour. The nose is gorgeous with its delicate smell of honey and a beautiful floral element. While it's probably wishful thinking, smelling this reminds me of fields of alpine wildflowers. There's also honey on the palate as well peach and melon; it really does have a lovely richness. This is good stuff, very good stuff; it's rich, long, textured and tastes bloody good. Confession time: I liked this so much that next morning while waiting for our train to Geneva I drank the leftovers from the bottle sitting at the platform.