Swiss Wine

Swiss wine is produced from nearly of vineyards, and the wines are mainly produced in the west and in the south of Switzerland, in the cantons of Geneva, Neuchâtel, Ticino, Valais and Vaud. White grape varieties are grown on 43% of the country's vineyard area, and red grape varieties on 57%.

According to the Swiss Federal Office of Agriculture, Swiss wine production in 2019 was just over , almost equal amounts red and white.

Nearly all the national production is drunk within the national boundaries; less than 2% of the wine is exported (mainly to Germany). For example, in 2019, only 13,193 hectolitres were exported. Switzerland ranks in the top 10 of per capita consumption of wine, and as of 1983 imported two thirds of it, including more Beaujolais than the United States. In 2019, 1,784,371 hectolitres of wine consumed was imported, compared to 945,585 hectolitres of domestic wine consumed.

History

The tradition of wine and viticulture in Switzerland is very old, beginning no later than the Roman era.

The oldest recorded bottle, made in ceramic, was found near Sembrancher (Valais), in a Celtic tomb of a lady of 2nd century BC. An inscription on the bottle indicates that it contained wine. Around the 150s BC, in the Celtic era, the people in Valais offered wine to the dead, and probably they also drank the same wine. After a century, the Roman amphorae also appeared.

Geography and climate

Six wine regions are defined by Swiss Wine Promotion, an association that represents Swiss winemakers. They are: Geneva, German-speaking Switzerland, Three Lakes (including Neuchatel, Fribourg, and part of the canton of Bern), Ticino, Vaud, and Valais.

Switzerland is a fairly small country with great diversity in climate and soils due to the Alps. Ticino, on the southern side, has a sunnier climate more influenced by the Mediterranean, while the rest of the country, being on the north side, are more affected by weather coming off the Atlantic Ocean.

Grape varieties

The two most common grape varieties in Switzerland are the red Pinot noir at around 30% and the white Chasselas at around 27%. A large number of grape varieties are cultivated in Switzerland, many of them indigenous or regional specialties. Some 90 grape varieties are cultivated on an area of or more.Office fédéral de l’agriculture OFAG: Das Weinjahr 2009 / L'année d'viticole 2009

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Other grapes grown in Switzerland include hybrid varieties like Muscat bleu which had in cultivation for commercial winemaking 2009.

Classification

For a long time, Switzerland lacked detailed national regulations regarding wine classification, which meant that it was to a large extent up to wine producers about what to put on wine labels; neither a German wine-style Prädikat system or a French wine-style appellation system was implemented, and as a non-EU member, Switzerland did not have to implement European Union wine regulations system started to be implemented, starting with the Canton of Geneva. These regulations are mainly implemented by the cantons themselves.

Wine styles

Over the years, the Swiss have developed a number of unique specialty wines from grapes rarely found outside Switzerland. These include:

*''Vin des glaciers''—a sherry-style wine that utilizes a solera system of wine stored in larch wood or oak barrels that are never fully emptied with newer vintages being added to the barrels containing the older vintages.My Switzerland '
Vin des glaciers - Le "sherry" du Valais
'' Official Switzerland Tourism Site. Accessed: August 18th, 2012 The wines are primarily made from the Swiss wine grape Rèze in Valais canton.J. Robinson ''Jancis Robinson's Guide to Wine Grapes'' pg 152 Oxford University Press 1996

See also

* :Wine regions of Switzerland
*Oeil de Perdrix, Swiss wine style
*Old World wine

References

External links

Documentary about Heroic Viticulture in Valaisswisswine.ch
the trade organisation promoting Swiss Wines

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