Fete des vignerons or the wine grower’s festival is held once in 20 years in Vevey, Switzerland. This year, it falls between July 18-August 11. Since 2016, Fete des Vignerons has been included in UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage. Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) is the main partner, and is actively spreading the word about the traditions, the savoir-faire and the terroir of the Swiss country. Paying homage to this living tradition is local Vevey artist Mathias Forbach.
He created a special livery that has been applied to one of SWISS aircrafts to fly-past over the festival arena on the August 1 – Swiss National Day. “As the [official] Airline of Switzerland, we are proud to play such a part in this once-in-a-generation celebration that so embodies our home country”, says Lorenzo Stoll, Head of Western Switzerland, SWISS.
In India, Switzerland Tourism and Swiss International Airlines partnered with Whisky Samba, Gurgaon, for a promotional event on April 26. Chef Vikramjit Roy designed a five-course special menu of cheese platters, cold cuts and fondues and much more, paired with the choicest wines. I enjoyed baked potato with pickled green chilli emulsion bunder barley soup for appetiser, Swiss-style chicken breast stuffed with spinach mountain and blue cheese inspired sauce for entree, and organic saffron risotto with grilled Bengali style Australian lamb chops as the mains.
SWISS is holding a #20SaalBaad contest on flyswiss.co.in till May 22. You stand a chance to win two economy tickets on SWISS Airlines, two passes to the festival and a two-nights stay in Switzerland.