A great weekend of "Swissness"

ZÜRICH GREAT WEEKEND JUNE 2012
John Macdonald (Zürich)

Months of planning with a dedicated team produced a Zürich Great Weekend of “Swissness”.

The team of Kurt Haering, organiser and team leader, John and Trudi Macdonald, Hans-Walter and Philppa Keller, Elina and Göran Selin, John (Treasurer and Transport organiser) and Joan Nicholas and Edi and Ruth Hug combined their ideas to showcase the Zürich region, its culture, food and wines to some 65 guests from around the world. Visitors came from Melbourne, Estonia, Ireland, The United States, Cayman Islands, England and of course Switzerland.

In 2011 we were visited by the EAC Chairman Ron Barker and EAC Event Coordinator Michael Messent with the idea that Zürich should put on a Great Weekend in 2012. Our first reaction was “Sure, we’d love to do it”. It wasn’t till we got home and thought, “What have we done, what have we gotten ourselves into?”

We put the team together and immediately started having meetings and hammering out ideas. Too many ideas for three days. But gradually certain things became more important/interesting than others and a general plan was decided upon. Various members took charge of certain events and with regular meetings, events coalesced into firm bookings and by April the Great Weekend had taken shape. A black tie dinner at one of the most famous Guild houses in Zurich, the Zunfthaus zur Meisen arranged by Hans-Walter and Philippa Keller, then on the next morning a walking tour of the older sections of Zürich followed by a typical Swiss lunch hopefully outdoors, after all it was June, weather should be warm and sunny shouldn’t it?

The afternoon was to be spent on a paddle wheel steamer arranged by John and Joan Nicholas with a voyage from one end of the lake to the other for dinner in the mediaeval town of Rapperswil-Jona at the Restaurant Rathaus arranged by John and Trudi Macdonald. Sunday the group was to travel by train to the Swiss wine research station at Wädenswil to visit the Weinmuseum and have a tasting of interesting Zürich area wines followed by a lunch at the famous Landgasthof Halbinsel Au, arranged by Kurt Haering. The organising team arranged for test meals at the various venues to fine-tune the meals and the wine selections. We had finalised just about everything by the start of May except the weather.

Weather from the start was a serious factor to contend with, as Zürich is a walking city with vehicles not allowed in the centre of the town. Fortunately we had trams to help us because the weekend prognosis called for rain everyday and it certainly started out that way on Friday. But with a lot of praying and doing some begging of the higher powers, the rain mercifully stopped by six o’clock and many attendees were able to walk to the event along the Bahnhofstrasse, those of us who were a little less able took the tram and the evening worked out without a drop of rain.

The evening started with an apéro in the Meisen reception room containing a rare Swiss porcelain collection. We all then moved to the dining room where the evening festivities began. The EAC chairman, Ron Barker, gave a welcoming speech to the gathering and at the end made a surprise presentation of the André Simon bronze medal to The Zürich Branch president John Macdonald for his work for the IW&FS in starting the Zürich Branch. The dinner began with a trilogie of local fresh water fish done in different styles, followed by a cream of white asparagus soup with green asparagus tips. The main course was lamb cutlet and lamb entrecote accompanied by a potato nest filled with ratatouille.

Dessert was a another Swiss speciality, Fresh berries, Emmentaler Meringues filled with Créme Gruyere, needless to say a very light dessert! The wines accompanying the dinner were all Swiss from the Vaud a Calamin d’Epesses, from the Valais a Syrah, and from the Zürich region, a Pinot Noir that the Meisen Zunft selects each year for their cellar served from antique pewter wine ewers. During the meal the diners were entertained with a talk from the 103rd Guildmeister, Hans-Ruedi Staiger, on the history and influence of the Guilds in the development of Zurich. Each attendee received a copy of the address.

Saturday dawned with clouds that threatened rain, but more praying and begging got us sunny breaks and then by lunch almost full sun for the rest of the day. This was a walking day with a guided tour, with a guide organised by our member Edi Hug, of the old city followed by a lunch at the Kongresshaus on the lakefront. The voyage on the paddle wheel steamer was accompanied by cake and coffee and beautiful weather for seeing the countryside of Zürich from the lake.

In Rapperswil-Jona, our local tour guides Werner and Jill Rüttimann, friends of the Kellers, met us and the group had a walking tour of the old city and the castle ramparts ending up at our dinner venue where, with beautiful sunny late afternoon weather, we all sat down outdoors to an apéro of Prosecco and hors d’oeurves.

The evening event was held in the old city government house now turned into a museum/restaurant. Our dining room was the council chamber of the Rathaus. Dinner started with a Marinated fish “Escabeche” style, the fish caught earlier that day in the Zürichsee. The main course was a delicious Beef roast sourced from a farm in the Graubünden, perfectly prepared. It literally melted in the mouth. The wines were a rare Chardonnay from a 5ha vineyard on the Walensee in St. Gallen region accessible only by boat. The red wine was from a famous Ticino wine maker, Feliciano Gialdi, a 2009 Giornico Merlot in magnum bottles. Dessert was a play of Strawberries and peppermint sorbet, a wonderful finish to a great meal in wonderful surroundings. During the meal, the guest speaker, Diccon Bewes, regaled the attendees with excerpts from his book ‘Swiss Watching’; an insightful book into the government of the country as well as the manners and habits of the Swiss population. Each of the attendees of the Great Weekend received a signed copy of the book in their welcome bag.

Sunday dawned cloudy and once again threatened rain but by the time we had reached the Wädenswil Wine Museum tasting, skies were clearing. A tour of the museum was followed by a tasting of classic wines of the region as well as a couple of extreme rarities that are generally never seen on store shelves but which are extremely interesting varietal wines. The tasting was followed by a lunch at the famous Landgasthof Halbinsel Au. This wonderful establishment sits on top of an ancient moraine that gives a wonderful panoramic view of the lake of Zürich. Some of our less mobile participants took advantage of Ruth and Edi Hug’s handicap equipped van to climb to the top. The luncheon theme was fish with white and red wines from the area. A fish broth to start, followed by a poached Zander in white wine sauce and finally a salmon-trout in puff pastry with a dill sauce and Jasmine rice accompanied by an interesting red wine, Garanoir/Gamaret blend. A fresh fruit dish with a pink grapefruit sorbet ended the luncheon.

The luncheon ended with a short closing address from the EAC chairman and his surprise presentation of an award to our event organiser, Kurt Haering, a very well deserved award. Congratulations Kurt!

The Great Weekend ended, members headed back to Zürich either by train to catch their flights home or for those who were staying on for a few more days, the relaxing ship back to Zürich, catching a last glimpse of the beautiful shores of the Zürichsee.