Swiss Alps ice and wine

I just got back from a trip to Zermatt in Switzerland. This little town, with no motorized cars--just electric vehicles--has spectacular views of the triangular Matterhorn, a moutain that seems to rise by itself out of the valley and lower mountains. I was on a family trip with lots of nieces and nephews, hiking everyday, playing Ghost, and getting to see glaciers, valleys, and not one traffic light.

One of the best aspects of hiking in Zermatt is that an all-day hike can be planned with a stop at a tiny mountain village of one to ten little wooden houses, one with a fabulous restaurant. You can get Rosti--delicious fried potatoes--great salads (gemischt salat), bratwurst, carpaccio, excellent coffee, delicious and refined pastries, and unbelievably good coffe ice cream. Yum.

Order a Cafe Glace (either with or without rahm--whipped cream), and you'll get a huge sundae glass, filled perhaps with Movenpick coffee ice cream , which has tiny shavings of chocolate in it, or with locally made ice cream. Either way it will have a drizzle of coffee on top, or coffee syrup. The taste is unbelievable, whether you've been hiking all day, or just hanging out...rich & creamy, with intense coffee flavor.

I did some research on Movenpick's ice cream, and it turns out it's owned by a New Zeland company, which makes sense because New Zealand ice cream is some of the best I've had--especially the Hokey-Pokey, a vanilla ice cream with sweet cruncy toffee bits. Apprently New Zelanders are the largest per capita ice cream eaters, and hokey pokey is the Kiwis' 2nd most popular flavor.

But back to Switzerland... the local white wines we had were generally whites from the Chasslas grape: light and acidic enough to pair well with some of the more oily foods such as rosti, fish in butter sauces, smoked salmon, etc. The wines tend not to be too expensive and it feels right to be drinking wines made nearby. Robin Garr's Wine Lover's page has some more information about this grape.