Vineyards off Lake Geneva in Switzerland.

In TRINK, Ellen Wallace explores the future of Swiss wine. “The new generation is making its mark, bringing to Swiss wine an appreciation of local and regional roots while placing it in a larger context. New ideas and technologies, and a pointed focus on sustainability are the hallmarks, enriched by world travels and training abroad, and an openness to crossing language and cultural lines within the country.”

Is it time to retire the wine descriptor “rustic”? In PUNCH, Danny Chau says the ambiguous term may have to die for its true tenets to survive. “With no fixed meaning in the context of wine and spirits, rustic’s tone shifts dramatically depending on who wields it.”

In Wine Enthusiast, Anna Archibald delves into the surprisingly long history of arsenic in wine.

Also in Wine Enthusiast, Dylan Garret makes the case that the worth or value of a wine ought to be properly defined by the enjoyment it brings. “It’s time to step back and reevaluate how we define value. While there’s a thrill to sipping something rare or tasting the unique history found in often expensive, older vintage wines, it’s the experience that matters, not the bragging rights over how much you paid for it.”

But, as Tom Wark argues, “it should also be pointed out that it is equally legitimate to derive pleasure from a wine due to what it cost and what that cost represents.”

As the world’s politicians gather for COP26 in Glasgow, Jamie Goode is working on a three-part series for the World of Fine Wine, investigating wine’s carbon footprint and how it can be reduced with an inventory of vineyard and winery emissions. Here’s Part 1 and Part 2.

In the Drop, David W. Brown explores the history of sulfites in wine and the many reasons why people argue about them.