Switzerland Flashcards
Name the main grape varieties of Geneva, Switzerland
Chasselas (Perlan) and Aligote, Gamay
Name the main grape variety of Ticino, Switzerland
Merlot
Name the main grape variety of Vaud, Switzerland
Chasselas (Dorin)
What is the varietal AOC for Chasselas in Vaud?
Dorin
Name the two grand Cru sites in the Vaud region of Switzerland
Dezaley and Calamin white wines mainly from Chasselas
What % of wine, produced in Switzerland is exported?
1% of total production
Is chaptalisation permitted for Swiss wines?
Yes
Name the main areas of Swiss wine production 3 total
Valais, Vaud, Geneva, produce over 75% of all Swiss wine
Name the main white grape of Switzerland
Chasselas Also called: In Valais- Fendant In Geneva- Perlan In Vaud- Dorin
What grape is Dorin from?
Chasselas from Switzerland also known as Perlan
Describe Chasselas wine
A romantically neutral with low acidity and strong mineral flavours that develop richness and complexity as they age.
Describe Dole wine from the Vaud region in Switzerland
A local Red wine made from a blend of Pinot Noir and Gamay
Name the main grape varieties of Valais, Switzerland
Pinot Noir and Gamay, Chasselas
History- Switzerland
Long production, where local demand outstripped supply. Wealthy economy so subsequent high prices.
Trade- Switzerland
Before EU opened markets importation of white wine banned from Switzerland. Wine must now compete on an open market; high production costs, strength of Swiss economy and local demand puts the export price of Swiss wine very high.
Viticulture- Switzerland
Suitable land in short supply. Vines planted on steep, south facing slopes of the upper Rhone and Lake Geneva. No mechanisation, production is expensive because wages are high. High yields. Main grapes are Pinot Noir and Chasselas.
Vinification- Switzerland
Similar to surrounding countries. Chaptalisation permitted. Wines tend to have low acidity due to chosen varieties, use to malolactic and harvesting very ripe grapes. Oak not often used.
Valais
Upper Rhone Valley, mainly Chasselas. Dole produced which is a blend of Pinot Noir and Gamay. Some local varieties grown producing unique wines.
Vaud
Slopes of Lake Geneva. Chasselas grown, showing mineral characters when young, developing richness and complexity with age. Gamay grown for red and rose.
Ticino
Italian speaking area in southern Switzerland. Merlot grown in two main styles; light and fruity or rich, black berry fruits and toasty oak.
Geneva
Vineyards surrounding the city of Geneva. Chasselas dominates, many new plantings of international varieties. Lake Geneva offers a warm microclimate and prevents frost risk.
Switzerland
small, alpine country in central Europe beginning to look outwards into the greater world of wine. Annual wine production is steady at more than a million hl/26.4 million gal from about 15,000 ha/37,050 acres of often spectacular vineyards. The majority of these are in the western, French-speaking part of the country, Suisse romande. There are also extensive vineyards all over eastern, German-speaking Switzerland (or Ostschweiz), and many vineyards in Ticino, the Italian-speaking south of Switzerland (or Svizzera italiana). The country is divided into 26 cantons, of which all produce some wine. For many years, Swiss wine labelling lacked the discipline applied to the north in Germany or the controls imposed to the west in France, but from the early 1990s a controlled appellations system was applied with increasing rigour, initially in French-speaking Switzerland. Since controls on wine imports were relaxed in the mid 1990s (and disappeared altogether in 2006), the Swiss wine industry has been forced to up its game, replacing much of the light, white, and relatively neutral wine that was once the norm with serious offerings of both colours. chasselas is the principal white grape variety and, when well vinified, it can express well the country’s diversity of soils and climates. The Valais has a clutch of interesting indigenous varieties and some increasingly sophisticated red wines are made in all Swiss wine regions, particularly Ticino and Graubünden. Switzerland is able to supply only 40% of domestic consumption; 60%, mainly red wine, has to be imported.
Switzerland- History
Seeds from wild vines of the Neolithic age, between 3000 and 1800 bc, have been found at St-Blaise in Neuchâtel, and recent findings of a significant amount of vitis pollen in deposits below a lake near Sion in the Valais, as well as grape pips and pedicels at the Iron Age archaeological site of Gamsen near Brig in the Haut-Valais, suggest that winemaking already existed c.800–600 bc, before the roman era. In the Middle Ages, vine-growing spread under monastic influence, notably that of the Cistercians, who planted the original Dézaley vines in Vaud. As elsewhere, medieval wines were thin, acid, and often helped by the addition of honey and other flavourings. In the 17th century, Swiss vignerons were already feeling the effects of wine imports from hotter climes, notably from further down the rhône Valley. Switzerland was far more seriously affected by the viticultural catastrophes of the late 19th century (downy mildew, phylloxera, powdery mildew) than most other wine-producing countries. Between 1877 and 1957 the total Swiss vineyard declined by 60% from 33,000 to 12,500 ha/30,890 acres, a decrease encouraged by competition from cheaper imported wines, increasing industrialization, and development of the all-important lakesides. In the mid 20th century, clonal selection and fertilizers were harnessed with particular enthusiasm in attempts to increase productivity from Switzerland’s relatively inconvenient, expensive-to-work vineyards. More recent developments in both vineyard and cellar are concerned with quality.
Climate- Switzerland
Although Switzerland is on a particularly suitable latitude for wine production, between 45 and 47 degrees, a high proportion of the country is simply too high. However, the country’s lakes and the föhn, a local wind which warms up sizeable portions of the south of the country, particularly Graubünden in the upper Rhine Valley, enable full grape ripening to take place in many valleys and on lakesides. And in the Valais in the south west, the upper Rhône Valley, sunshine is so dependable (an average of more than 2,000 hours a year, rising sometimes to more than 2,500 hours) that vineyards can be as high as 750 m/2,460 ft, and some, such as Visperterminen, reach 1,150 m above sea level. The Valais is sheltered by the alps and, like south east Switzerland, benefits particularly from the föhn, but it can be dry and irrigation with mountain water is sometimes necessary. Most Swiss wine regions have an annual rainfall of between 500 and 1,800 mm/19.5–70 in a year, the wettest region being Ticino, which suffers violent but short (hail) storms and is also the hottest with average July temperatures of more than 21 °C/70 °F. Elsewhere, average July temperatures are between 17.5 and 20 °C, there is good day–night temperature variability, and winter temperatures in the vineyards rarely fall below danger level for vines. The Valais is most at risk.
Viticulture- Switzerland
The slope, as steep as 90% in places, and, in some regions, rainfall make soil erosion many Swiss vine-growers’ prime concern. terraces are common in Switzerland’s steep vineyards, and cover crops are increasingly common. Sophisticated mechanization is possible only on some of the flatter vineyards on the plain, or on some of the terraces of eastern Switzerland. A wide variety of training methods are used, including cordon, gobelet, guyot, tendone (in Ticino), and the Swiss German speciality taille à l’onglet designed to protect the vines against spring frost danger there. Elaborate monorail systems, and sometimes even helicopters may be used to transport equipment and, at harvest, grapes. Many vine-growers sell their grapes direct to négociants or co-operatives. yields are nationally restricted, according to Switzerland’s somewhat microscopic unit of measurement, to 1.4 kg/sq m for Chasselas grapes and 1.2 kg/sq m for red and superior white grapes, quite generous allowances although some cantons, such as those of eastern Switzerland and Geneva, Neuchâtel, and the Valais, apply their own stricter limits, and national average yields are about the same as in France. The most common viticultural problems are downy mildew, powdery mildew, botrytis bunch rot, soil erosion, and occasional spring frost in the east of the country. Switzerland’s most famous viticultural research stations are at wädenswil in German-speaking Switzerland and changins at Nyon in Suisse romande.
Winemaking- Switzerland
The essential stylistic difference between Swiss wine and that of neighbouring Germany and Austria is that acidity is seen as an evil rather than a virtue and malolactic conversion is routinely practised. The resulting softness in Swiss wine is emphasized by the additional alcohol provided by chaptalization. This prefermentation sugar addition has been almost de rigueur for many Swiss wines, although the practice is unnecessary in much of the Valais and the Rhine Valley, and is declining elsewhere. Ordinary wines may have their alcohol content increased by up to 3%, although Swiss consumers are increasingly favouring lighter, drier wines. Swiss presses, made by Bucher and Sutter, are known throughout the winemaking world, and are put to particularly effective work in their native land, where the aim is to extract as much juice as possible from the country’s precious grapes with only the gentlest of pressure from an inflatable membrane. destemming is the norm and some form of carbonic maceration is often employed for German-speaking eastern Switzerland’s red wines. As elsewhere, barrel maturation has become increasingly popular for Swiss reds in general. Switzerland has several pink wine specialities: white wines made from Pinot Noir and/or Gamay grapes such as the Valais’s dôle Blanche. Œil de Perdrix, ‘partridge eye’, is made only from Pinot Noir, originally in Neuchâtel, while Gamay provides rosé. Federweisser (sometimes Federweiss) or weissherbst are respectively white or rosé wine made from dark-skinned grapes in German Switzerland, where schillerwein is a local rosé made from both red and white grapes. blending once played a much more important part in the Swiss wine industry than it does now. Before the practice was banned in 2005, Swiss wine merchants depended on imported wines, particularly deeply coloured red ones, to add bulk to many of their less expensive blends, and although Switzerland remains outside the eu, its controlled appellations are in some instances stricter than those of the EU.
Vine Varieties- Switzerland
Switzerland’s most planted grape variety is now Pinot Noir, or Blauburgunder as it is known by German speakers, planted on 29% of the country’s vineyard land. chasselas, or Gutedel in German, is the most planted white variety with 27%. In the Valais it is called Fendant, a name used until the late 19th century in Vaud where wines have since then been sold under their geographical appellations. Dorin in Vaud and Perlan in Geneva are brand names introduced in the late 20th century with mitigated success. The conveniently early-ripening müller-thurgau, in Dr Müller’s native land erroneously still known as Riesling–Silvaner or Riesling-Sylvaner, is the most common white grape variety in German Switzerland, having substantially replaced the historic räuschling vine, particularly around Zurich just south of the German border. Other white grape varieties include, in decreasing order of importance, chardonnay, which can be elegant in the cantons of Neuchâtel and Geneva, and richer in Vaud and the Valais; silvaner, whose wines, fuller bodied than Chasselas, are sold as Johannisberg in the Valais; pinot gris, called Malvoisie in the Valais, and pinot blanc; Arvine, the Valais’ most revered indigenous variety (see below); sauvignon blanc, notably in Geneva canton; and savagnin blanc, known in the Valais as Heida, especially high up at Visperterminen, and its pink and aromatic variant Gewurztraminer; and Marsanne, also known as Ermitage, exclusive to the Valais. Other red wine grapes include gamay, Switzerland’s second most widely planted dark-skinned variety, which is widely planted in Vaud, the Valais, and Geneva; merlot, reigning in Ticino to such an extent that it accounts for 80% of production; and syrah, which can produce respectably ripe wine in sheltered parts of the Valais. The northern Ticino speciality Bondola has largely been replaced by Merlot. A number of quite popular crosses have been developed since 1965 at changins as suitable for Switzerland’s very particular growing conditions: Charmont and Doral (both Chasselas × Chardonnay); gamaret and garanoir (both Gamay × reichensteiner); and, a Valais speciality, Diolinoir (Robin Noir × Pinot Noir). Garanoir is today the country’s fourth most planted red wine grape. But of most interest to students of ampelography is the Valais’ rich collection of a dozen ancient indigenous varieties, each with substantial body, ageing potential, and its own whiff of history: the dry or sweet amigne, mainly in Vétroz; the powerfully scented and complex arvine; the elegant humagne blanche; the almost extinct rèze; the local rarities of the Haut-Valais Lafnetscha and Himbertscha; and, among dark-skinned varieties, the noble and historical Rouge du Pays, today more usually known as cornalin, and the powerful humagne rouge, both initially originating from the neighbouring aosta valley in Italy; Rouge de Fully (or Durize) and Eyholzer Rote are even rarer; completer is Graubünden’s indigenous white wine grape.
The Wine Regions- Switzerland
Swiss wine country is divided into six main regions, in decreasing order of importance: Valais, Vaud, German-speaking Switzerland, Geneva, Ticino, and Trois-Lacs (Neuchâtel). The country’s emerging Appellation Contrôlée system is applied by each canton individually.
Valais
The 5,000 ha/12,500 acres of productive vineyards of this south western canton produce 40% of every Swiss vintage. Concentrated on the south-facing slopes of the sunny upper Rhône Valley, the region is known as ‘the California of Switzerland’. Many of these beautiful vineyards are terraced with historic dry-stone walls into so-called tablars, horizontal slices of vineyard cut into the mountainside, farmed as a part-time activity by 20,000 smallholders. Typical of what they produce is the ubiquitous fendant (made from the Chasselas grapes which cover one-quarter of the vignoble), and medium-weight reds labelled either Pinot Noir or dôle, a blend in which Pinot Noir must dominate the Gamay element, and up to 15% of other varieties may be included. (Dôle Blanche is a pale rosé made from a blend of Pinot Noir and Gamay grapes, with the permitted inclusion of up to 10% white wine in the final blend.) Some of the most concentrated Silvaners, sold here as johannisberg, come from particularly well-favoured sites at Chamoson. arvine of Fully is accorded the greatest respect, however, for its exotic intensity; while Cornalin (or Rouge du Pays) and Humagne Rouge (confusingly known as Cornalin in Aosta) make some of Switzerland’s most characterful reds. Fine, sweet, late-harvest wines, made from Amigne, Ermitage (Marsanne), Malvoisie (Pinot Gris), and Arvine picked in November and December, can easily reach 20% potential alcohol. They may be described as flétri, or withered, a reference to partial raisining on the vine. In 1996 a few dozen of the best producers, introduced a strict quality charter Grain Noble ConfidenCiel. Wines made from such indigenous varieties as Rouge de Fully (Durize), Lafnetscha, Himbertscha, or Rèze are curiosities, the last featuring historically in the vin des glaciers from the Val d’Anniviers above Sierre. Superior Valais producers include Marie Thérèse Chappaz, Jean-René Germanier, Domaine des Muses, and Didier Joris.
Vaud
Switzerland’s second most important wine canton is also in French Switzerland, round the northern shore of Lake Geneva, or Lac Léman (almost everything has at least two names in Switzerland). The canton’s six wine regions are La Côte, Lavaux, and Chablais on the north shore of Lake Geneva, Les Côtes de l’Orbe on the plain between lakes Geneva and Neuchâtel, Bonvillars on Lake Neuchâtel, and Vully on Lake Morat. The canton’s eight appellations encompass the six regions as well as two grands crus: Dézaley in the commune of Puidoux and Calamin in the commune of Epesses. Chasselas accounts for 70% of the production from about 3,800 ha/9.390 acres, although, under the influence of the Vaud’s varied soils, its character can vary from almost insultingly innocuous to an almost pouilly-fumé-like steeliness. In La Côte, the aromatic floral notes of the variety itself tend to dominate the wines. In Yvorne, Aigle, Bonvillars, and Calamin the mineral character of individual soils can easily dominate the fruit, while Dézaley and St-Saphorin often manage to demonstrate both fruit and minerals. A little Chardonnay and Pinot Gris are also grown here. Red wines, especially Gamay, are a speciality of La Côte. Salvagnin, a designation accorded by a special tasting panel, approximates to a Vaud version of the Valais’ Dôle, although it can be made from Pinot Noir or Gamay or both. Similarly, Terravin is a Chasselas whose quality has a local seal of approval. Many of Switzerland’s largest négociants are based here. In 2002 some of the best producers including Domaine La Colombe, Pierre-Luc Leyvraz, and Blaise Duboux created the quality-oriented association Arte Vitis to promote Vaud’s terroirs.
Geneva
The 1,400 ha/3,460 acres of vineyards around the city at the south western end of the lake are much flatter than those of the Valais and Vaud and benefit from good sunlight, those next to the lake often escaping spring frost danger. Chasselas dominates white wine production, Riesling–Sylvaner (Müller-Thurgau) is on the wane, while all manner of newcomers, including Chardonnay, Aligoté, Sauvignon, Sémillon, and Kerner, have become popular. In reds, Gamay clearly dominates and is particularly successful here, whether as a well-structured red, a primeur, or a rosé. Pinot comes second, closely followed by gamaret, planted extensively in recent years (120 ha by 2012). garanoir, Merlot, and even Cabernet Sauvignon are increasingly popular with growers and consumers alike. This was the birthplace of Switzerland’s burgeoning controlled appellations. Reliable producers include Jean-Michel Novelle of Le Grand Clos, Domaine Grand Cour, and Domaine Les Hutins.
Neuchatel
Only 600 ha/1,480 acres of the ancient calcareous soils, on the well-situated south-facing slopes above Lake Neuchâtel, grow vines, but with characterful results. Pinot Noir and Chasselas as usual. The pale pink Pinot Œil de Perdrix is a Neuchâtel invention, as is the Chasselas non filtré (unfiltered) released on the third Wednesday in January following the harvest. This was the first canton to restrict yields.
Eastern Canons
In the 17 German-speaking cantons of Switzerland are 2,600 ha/6,425 acres of vines, ranging from 0.2 ha in Nidwald to more than 600 ha in the canton of Zürich. Schaffhausen, effectively an outcrop into south baden in Germany, has nearly 500 ha of vines. Here in eastern Switzerland nearly 80% of production is red wine, particularly the rot-resistant Mariafeld and 2–45 clones of Blauburgunder (Pinot Noir) and, to a lesser extent, the crosses Gamaret and Garanoir developed locally at the changins viticultural research station. Räuschling is once again gaining ground in Limmatal and on the shores of the lake south of Zürich, where Blauburgunder is often labelled Clevner. Riesling–Sylvaner (Müller-Thurgau) is the dominant white grape variety of eastern Switzerland, while Completer is a local speciality of Bündner Herrschaft near the border with Austria and Liechtenstein in Graubünden, where a small quantity of sweet Freisamer and serious red wine, mainly Blauburgunder, is also produced. Donatsch, Fromm, Gantenbein, and Schlossgut Bachtobel are some of the most effective producers.
Italian Speaking Switzerland
There are just over 1,000 ha/2,470 acres of vineyard in the southern canton of Ticino, and barely 30 ha over the border with Graubünden in the Italian-speaking Mesolcina Valley. This makes Ticino Switzerland’s fourth most important wine canton, and 80% of its production is of the Bordeaux red variety Merlot, imported in 1906. Here, vineyards lower than 450 m/1,475 ft are sunny enough to ripen this variety, although higher vineyards may have to concentrate on Pinot Noir. Merlot del Ticino can be relatively light or, from well-sited vineyards and carefully vinified, often using new oak, can be a serious challenge for fine red bordeaux. The pale yellow Merlot Bianco, made from gently pressed black-berried Merlot, has become quite popular. Sopraceneri, north of Monte Ceneri, is an important wine region of which the local red grape variety Bondola is a speciality. It tends to be included in the rustic local version of ‘house wine’ called Nostrano, or ‘ours’, as opposed to Americano, which may include the hybrids and american vines still representing 7% of total production here. Some of the most interesting producers are Castello Luigi, Guido Brivio, Daniel Huber, Kopp von der Crone Visini, Werner Stucky, and Christian Zündel.
Other Cantons- Switzerland
The German-speaking but central canton of Bern has more than 200 ha/495 acres of vines, mainly on the north shore of Lake Bienne, although there are some vines on the Thunersee west of Interlaken. On the southern shores of Lake Neuchâtel are 100 ha of mainly Chasselas and Pinot Noir in the canton of Fribourg, most of them on the north shore of Lake Morat. The Swiss canton of Jura also has a few hectares of vines.
Johannisberg
Valais name for fuller-than-average dry white wine made from silvaner grapes in switzerland.
Fletri
French term used to describe grapes which have been dried, or partially dried, before fermentation to increase the sugar content. It is used most commonly in switzerland and occasionally in the Valle d’aosta.
Vin des Glaciers
Also known as Vin du Glacier, or Gletscherwein in German, ‘glacier wine’, is a local speciality in the Val d’Anniviers near Sierre in the Valais in switzerland. The white wine, traditionally made of the now obscure Rèze vine, comes from communally cultivated vines and is stored at high elevations in casks refilled just once a year on a solera system. The resultant product is deliberately maderized and valued for its rarity.
Schillerwein
Pink wine speciality made by co-fermenting red and white grapes or must in the württemberg region in Germany. The term is also used in German switzerland but the grapes have to come from the same vineyard.
Completer
ancient white grape variety grown in Graubünden in eastern switzerland. The wine produced—distinctive, pungent, acidic, and full bodied—is a speciality of Bündner Herrschaft. dna profiling at davis showed in 2004 that Completer is one of the parents of lafnetscha. Subsequently, a few vines of Completer discovered among Lafnetscha vines supported this parentage and the unanticipated presence of Completer in the Valais.
Amigne
rare Swiss white grape variety and a speciality of Vétroz in the Valais used for dry, semi-dried on the vine, and sweet wines. dna profiling has established that Amigne is a likely grandchild of petit meslier, an almost extinct variety of Champagne. The wine produced is either a powerful dry white with distinctive linden aromas or a sweet wine with flavours of citrus fruits and bitter almonds.
