Wednesday, and this week my campus crush takes me to the hills above Lake Geneva. CHANGINS β the Haute Γ©cole de viticulture et Εnologie de Changins in Nyon, Vaud β is Switzerland's only school of its kind: founded in 1948, the national centre of competence for the vine and wine, sitting right beside Agroscope, the federal viticulture research institute. Below the campus, the terraces of Lavaux β a UNESCO World Heritage landscape of some 10,000 terraces and 450 km of stone walls, tended for nearly a thousand years β are holding their breath: the Chasselas harvest on these slopes typically falls in late September, and every row is heavy with pale-gold clusters. School has never smelled this sweet. Some things you study with a penβ¦ and some you study with your lips.
Morning, and I claim my table before anyone else. Crisp white blouse, pleated skirt, tasting notes fanned out like exam cheat-sheets β viticulture manuals, a cluster of Chasselas still cool from the vineyard, and one glass catching the window light like a lantern. I read that DΓ©zaley holds just 55 hectares β one of only two Grand Crus in all of Switzerland β and I underline it twice. Pure curiosity, immaculate white cotton, and a mind wandering just a littleβ¦ don't tell the librarian.
Afternoon practicum in the campus vines, notebook against my chest, ivory sundress skimming the terrace stones. The light comes low and golden through the leaves, the lake glitters far below, the Alps hover white in the haze β and the rows of Chasselas hang heavy and patient, two weeks from vendanges. I pause to cradle a cluster like something preciousβ¦ because it is. Some girls collect ribbons. I collect ripeness.
When the campus bar dims to candle-warm, my hair comes down and my shirt comes (almost) off-duty β top buttons free, textbook still open on my knees, one glass of Louis Bovard "MΓ©dinette" DΓ©zaley Grand Cru glowing gold in my hand. Ten generations of the Bovard family in Cully went into this Chasselas β vines 25 years and older β and it tastes like toasted bread, acacia honey, flint and ripe pear, ending long and stony. I sip slowly and let the day settle. The best assignments are the ones you finish aloneβ¦ or almost.
π« Pop quiz: I studied DΓ©zaley today, Calamin is still untouched, and I hear Switzerland keeps most of its secrets inside its own borders. Friday I go looking for the rest of the syllabus β bring your own glass.
