The Landscape of Swiss Wine: A wine-lover's tour of Switzerland

By Sue Style

The Landscape of Swiss Wine introduces readers to Switzerland’s wines and the extraordinary landscapes that give rise to them. Sue Style explores how vine cultivation has shaped the landscape down the centuries, and introduces the reader to Switzerland’s best winemakers.

• The most comprehensive guide to Swiss wine and vineyards available in English
• An unbiased and authoritative survey of Switzerland’s finest vintages
• Featuring 50 vineyards from Switzerland’s six main wine regions
• Including information on tasting visits, walking and sightseeing
• ‘Wines to watch out for’ point towards the best wines to taste and to purchase

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bergli
• Release date: Sep 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9783038690573

Sue Style

Sue Style is a food, travel, and wine writer who lives in Alsace, France.

Book preview

CHANTON WEINE

VISP, VALAIS

It would be hard to imagine a better place to start exploring Swiss wines than in the Valais, Switzerland’s arid, alpine, upper Rhone region. There are several reasons for this: firstly, its size in winegrowing terms – it’s the country’s largest wine region, producing one-third of all Swiss bottlings. Secondly, it’s home to a number of talented and opinionated winegrowers who have a great story to tell about their wines. And then there’s the sheer, majestic beauty of the landscape.

Everywhere you look, dramatic mountain peaks unfold, many of them topping the 4000-metre mark, snow-capped even in high summer. At their feet surf successive waves of vineyards, planted in rough, stony soils where little else can flourish, on slopes of giddying steepness with terraces sustained by an impressive network of dry-stone walls and irrigated by centuries-old water ducts. By almost any standards, this is still pretty rugged country: it’s easy to understand why in 1876 a British traveller described the region as fearsomely wild.

Vines start to put in a furtive appearance close to Brig at the upper end of the valley but viticulture doesn’t begin in earnest until Visp. Here the Chanton family practises extreme winegrowing at its most challenging best. The reputation of this eight-hectare family winery rests on their tireless championing of ancient indigenous varieties, many of which would, without their help, have simply died out. Josef-Marie Chanton (known as Chosy) has spent a lifetime resurrecting and building up a collection of these rare grapes. In 2008 he was succeeded by his son Mario, who joined the family firm after a spell in New Zealand. It’s good to see him sharing his father’s unshakeable belief in these rarities and embracing the responsibility for keeping them alive.

Why would anyone care about such obscure varieties, described ironically by wine writer Jason Wilson as godforsaken grapes? For Chosy, however, these are heaven-sent; he describes them as ein Kulturgut, part of the cultural heritage of the Valais. They constitute a sort of genetic treasure chest, valuable because they enrich the viticultural gene pool of the Valais and provide genetic material for potential future crossings.

If you would like to attend a tasting of these precious drops, held a couple of times a year in an historic upstairs room in the centre of the old town of Visp, it’s worth contacting the Chanton family to express your interest (numbers are limited and it’s by invitation only). These are rare and extraordinary wines that adventurous wine lovers will surely want to taste at least once in a lifetime. I’m looking forward to the day when one of them is slipped into a blind tasting for aspiring Masters of Wine, which would be a tough test even for these discerning tasters.

First up tends to be Gwäss (Gouais Blanc in French). So sharp is its fruit that in the old days this ancient variety was planted at the outside end of rows of vines whose grapes were sweeter and more alluring, to deter marauding grape-snatchers. The low-alcohol, high-acid wine made from Gwäss is certainly no medal-winner, but that’s not the point. Its chief claim to fame is that with it has spawned around 80 grape offspring, including Riesling, Chardonnay, Gamay and Aligoté, to name just four of the best-known. Dr José Vouillamoz, the internationally renowned grape geneticist, dubs it the Casanova of the vine world, so numerous are its progeny.

Other rare grapes nurtured by the Chantons rejoice in evocative names like Himbertscha. In this German-speaking part of the upper Valais, the name seems to suggest Himbeeren (raspberries). We make the best Himbertscha in the world! is Chosy’s proud boast – an assertion that’s hard to contest, since barely anyone else makes it. Another curiosity is Lafnetscha, whose name means don’t drink too soon, doubtless on account of its pronounced acidity, making it a candidate for very long ageing.

In this wonderland of rare grapes, things get curiouser and curiouser with Rèze, another high-acid white with herbal, slightly bitter flavours, which Mario indeed describes as curios and eigenwillig (with a mind of its own). Plantscher is as sharp and crisp as a Granny Smith apple while Eyholzer Roter, a pale, low-alcohol red wine with strawberry aromas, works beautifully – lightly chilled – with fondue or raclette, when you need a local, characterful red with good acidity to cut the richness of the cheese.

Such wines, which the Chantons list as Raritäten, are of inestimable cultural and genetic value, but they certainly wouldn’t put bread and butter on the table. This is where the Spezialitäten come in – these are the ones you can taste at the winery shop in Visp. Amongst these, my two standout whites are Heida, the rich, spicy Savagnin Blanc grape. While not a native Swiss variety – it wandered in from the French Jura several centuries ago – Heida has made itself very much at home in the Valais. Petite Arvine, a variety that is properly indigenous to the region and fast becoming the darling of the Swiss grape world, gives a gorgeously aromatic, crisp white wine with a distinct citrus touch and a characteristic salty lick at the end.

My red preferences chez Chanton fall evenly between Humagne Rouge, a red speciality unique to the Valais which gives a deeply coloured, deliciously distinct wine overlaid with pepper and spice – great with game – and Pinot Noir, of which they make two different cuvées. In general, the climate in the Valais is increasingly acknowledged to be too hot for this delicate grape, which is famously at home in Burgundy and similar northerly latitudes. However, as Mario notes, ‘We have an advantage here in the Upper Valais – the temperatures are a couple of degrees cooler than further down and our grapes ripen at least three weeks later, giving elegant wines of great freshness.’

ST. JODERN KELLEREI

VISPERTERMINEN, VALAIS

The road that snakes up from Visp to Visperterminen provides glimpses of some of Switzerland’s most extravagantly beautiful and challenging vineyard landscapes. For the fit and ambitious, there’s the option of arriving on foot via the famous Heidaweg, a vineyard trail that starts in the rabbit warren of streets in the old town and works its way steadily up through terraced vineyards braced by a network of dry-stone walls to the village perched high above the valley at 1,370 metres.

Just below the village is the St Jodern Kellerei, named after the earliest bishop of the Valais and patron saint of local winegrowers. This respected wine cooperative was formed in 1979 in response to a serious threat that these high-altitude vineyards might gradually be abandoned. Many of the part-time growers whose vines were planted here were beginning to lose heart at the sheer magnitude and difficulty of their wine-tending task. Today the cooperative is thriving, with almost 600 member-growers who between them farm 45 hectares. What is most encouraging is that young people are joining or taking over viticulture from their parents and continuing to support the cooperative.

The purpose-built, modern winery building combines local materials to great effect: stone and wood abound, while the roof bristles with row upon row of photovoltaic panels sticking up like spines on a stickleback. They take advantage of the abundant alpine sunshine to generate electricity for the winery, and generally cover about 85 percent of the winery’s needs.

Standing in the vineyards surrounded by this extraordinary landscape, you can understand why so many growers were tempted to give up, and why it was so important to provide incentives for them to stay. The sheer jaw-dropping steepness of the slopes is one of the biggest challenges. No mechanisation is possible; every single task must be carried out by hand. Apart from a single 25-hectare holding called Riebe, plots are tiny and irregularly distributed, and much time is wasted getting from one plot to another. And that’s before we even get onto the traditional dry-stone walls, which need constant maintenance.

The Kellerei makes a range of wines, both white and red, some monovarietal and others blended, for every budget. All are labelled with a striking image of the famous vineyards with a backdrop of snowcapped peaks. However, given the name of the vineyard trail as well as the village’s sobriquet, Heidadorf (Heida village), it’s no surprise to find that Heida rules here. The Savagnin Blanc grape from the French Jura found its home in the Valais some centuries ago and does particularly well in the schist and sand of the steep hillsides and at these commanding heights.

There are four different ones to choose from: Heida Visperterminen is a straightforward interpretation of the grape, which makes an excellent aperitif; Heida Melodie has a little residual sugar, which gives it extra curves; Heida Barrique is aged in new and used oak barrels for twelve months; and the uncontested star of the show is Heida Veritas, the wine that represents the cooperative in the Mémoire des Vins Suisses.

What makes Veritas unique, explains the cooperative’s director Michael Hock, is the fact that the vines that give rise to this wine are over one hundred years old. Somehow – and this remains something of a mystery – they did not succumb to the phylloxera plague which laid waste to most of Europe’s vineyards at the end of the 19th century. While almost all European grape species (Vitis vinifera) today are grafted onto American rootstocks, these hardy survivors are still growing on their original, pre-phylloxera rootstocks.

Veritas is pure gold with rich citrus and tropical fruit aromas, intensely complex with a lingering finish. Michael recommends keeping it for at least five years, but this is a thoroughbred wine with considerable pace, which will continue to age beautifully.

VIN D’ŒUVRE

LEUK, VALAIS

Perched above the main road in the handsome village of Leuk is Vin d’Oeuvre, a young, boutique winery that has blazed a considerable trail since its foundation in 2012 by Isabella and Stéphane Kellenberger. The winery’s name, a playful portmanteau word that combines elements of main d’oeuvre (workforce) and vin (wine), is picked up on their labels by a splayed-out handprint. The effect is partly that of a friendly salutation, partly a reflection of the hands-on philosophy of this young winemaking couple.

Originally from Bern, both Isabella and Stéphane studied at the Changins school of viticulture and oenology. On graduation they took turns around the vineyards of the New World, notching up between them visits to New Zealand, Chile, California and South Africa. We’d always dreamed of working abroad to gain international winemaking experience, explains Isabella. Each of the wineries they worked in were huge, industrial concerns – and about as different from today’s Vin d’Oeuvre operation as it’s possible to imagine.

In 2012, after their various peregrinations and valuable experiences making wine for other people, they decided to do their own thing. Though neither are from the Valais, the region seemed like an obvious choice to them. How come? It has a great climate and there are so many different grapes that ripen well here, says Isabella, adding that Stéphane had already worked in the region and knew it well.

After some searching, they found a small winery in the centre of the Leuk, whose owners were ready for retirement and had no successors. The winery building is vintage 1960s, which puts it at odds with the beautifully preserved medieval stone Rathaus and Bishop’s Palace below, but it suits their purposes just fine. At the start the Kellenbergers had two hectares, which has now progressed to four. Their vineyard plots – over 30 of them – are distributed like small jewels at various points along the valley, from the heights of Visperterminen all the way down to Fully, the last village before the Rhone turns sharply north, heading for Lake Geneva.

The majority of their tiny holding is centred around Leuk in vineyards hewn out of rough, limestone-rich soils that vary between 600 and 650 metres altitude. They also have a small plot of Heida (Savagnin Blanc) in Visperterminen, planted at altitudes above 1000 metres on near-vertical, southeast-facing slopes, exposed summer and winter to the blazing alpine sun. The clay component in amongst the predominant slate and gravel in these soils makes the most of conserving the meagre ration of rain that falls, though without drip-irrigation the vines here – as elsewhere in the Valais – would struggle to survive.

Further down, above the village of Raron, is their most recent addition, a south-facing, funnel-shaped vineyard situated at 800 metres altitude, which they have painstakingly (with the emphasis on ‘pain’) reshaped and replanted, mainly with Completer. Though this ancient and extremely rare variety has history here in the Valais, it is more commonly associated with Graubünden, where it was first recorded in the 14th century. In some ways it seems a surprising choice – it’s not as if the Valais doesn’t have multiple specialities of its own to play with – but we agreed on it and we both love it! exclaims Isabella. It’s clear this is a strong partnership in which important, long-term decisions – like the choice of a new variety, which will take at least three years to start producing wine and live for many decades – are jointly taken.

Finally, at the far end of the valley on the eye-rubbingly steep slopes above Fully they have a small plot of old-vine Gamay planted within Les Follatères nature reserve. The shallow soils over a bedrock of granite, the extreme steepness of the slopes and a microclimate that is a mixture of Mediterranean and continental with the customary low rainfall of the Valais combine to give the wine a dimension well beyond what the Beaujolais grape more commonly delivers.

In total they make over a dozen different wines, though this varies from year to year as new wines (such as the Completer-in-waiting) come in, others drop out, or a particular variety falls prey to late frosts or any of the other capricious weather events that characterise the Valais. Each wine has its poetic handle, many of them in English. A fresh, light Chasselas is subtitled a sigh in the sky, Humagne Blanc is born to be wise while its racy counterpart Humagne Rouge (no relation, ampelographically speaking) is born to be wild. The entry-level, fruit-forward Pinot Noir chant du Rhône sings of the Rhone below, while its more complex, oaked sister is noblesse oblige. For a spicy-smooth, easy-drinking red, try the Gamaret-Syrah blend (red temptation). It’s always interesting to hear a winemaker’s view on which of their wines go with which food, a subject we explored briefly together (Chasselas with fondue – or better still, Humagne Blanc). But, concludes Isabella with a smile: Our wines go best with friends!

ALBERT MATHIER ET FILS

SALGESCH, VALAIS

In the village of Salgesch, where the Rhone glimpsed below is still a meandering, greyish-green ribbon scrambling over rough stones, and the main road a scrappy two-lane highway, Albert Mathier