Back to Vinosity

Swiss Pinot Noir – who knew?

Switzerland is one of the most interesting of the world’s wine regions – small, steep and highly productive, its wine is little known by any but aficionados.

Swiss vineyard with lake and mountains in the distance

St Lavaux Treytorrens Vineyard, Switzerland

Pinot Noir makes up a quarter of the entire Swiss vineyard – the greatest concentration of that variety of all wine countries of the world. By contrast, it’s grown in 15 percent of vineyards in the United States, 13 percent in New Zealand, and four percent in France.

Of course such statistics are all relative. Switzerland might be a dedicated Pinot Noir producer but with just over 3,500ha of Pinot vineyards it’s only the eighth largest producer of the variety. In total it has 15,000ha of vineyard (the same size as Alsace). Pinot is its most-planted grape.

Switzerland is one of the world’s most mountainous wine regions, and with almost every viable slope planted, ’it’s small and it’s not going to get any bigger,’ Swiss wine expert Simon Hardy said.

Vibrant green Swiss vineyard with a mountain behind

Hardy, the author of the Smart Traveller’s Wine Guide: Switzerland, was presenting a masterclass at London wine club 67 Pall Mall, along with Richard Bampfield MW.

Switzerland is an unusual wine region in many ways. The Swiss are a thirsty race: they produce less than 100 million litres of wine per year but consume more than 250m litres. Ninety-eight percent of Swiss wine is consumed domestically.

Their wine is very expensive to produce. The sheerness of the slopes (in places like the UNESCO-listed Lavaux in canton Vaud, on the northern shore of the Lake of Geneva, they can be a vertiginous 45 degrees) mean that they can only be worked by hand. ‘This is what we call heroic viticulture,’ Hardy said.

The expense of production is reflected in the wines, especially the more premier cuvées of Pinot Noir, which can be £100 a bottle and more. Switzerland’s most popular grape, Chasselas, which is widely planted across Vaud and Valais (it’s called Fendant in the latter) is much more accessible – the Wine Society has an example for under £15.

But tonight’s tasting was concerned only with Pinot Noir. Half the wines in the lineup were from the Valais, the vineyards planted on steep-sided hills. ’Valais is otherwise known as the Rhône Valley,’ as Hardy said – the river rises in the high eastern part of the canton. The vineyards here go up to 1150m and are among the highest in Europe; Hardy also noted that in much of Switzerland, vines are on original rootstock as phylloxera is intolerant of altitude.

He and Bampfield showed ten Swiss Pinot Noirs from three different regions – German-speaking Switzerland in the north, the Valais to the east of Lake Geneva, and the Three Lakes region in the central eastern part of Switzerland.

The wines were well-made and occasionally stunning, but could be inconsistent. Two or three of the wines towered above the rest in terms of winemaking skill, showing balance of fruit and tannin, texture and acidity: this was assured winemaking. The styles are quite conservative, except for the excellent (but annoyingly named) L'Alter-natif from Le Vin de l’A, which demonstrates how good low-intervention can be in the right hands.

Some wines showed an old-fashioned approach to oak, the winemakers enthusiastically ageing for months in new barrels. My feeling is that Swiss winemakers perhaps need more exposure to an international market (though this is the old conundrum – they sell everything they make so why should they change their style?). This however is changing, as more and more producers latch on to the fact that wine drinkers the world over are demanding lighter, fresher styles in red wine, and lean, fresh, aromatic whites. The latter, with superb wines to be found from Chasselas to Humagne to Petit Arvine, Marsanne and Malvasia, are a sure way to introduce wine lovers to the delights of Swiss wines.

The first three wines are available in the UK through Alpine Wines. The remaining wines are available in Switzerland and in other mainland European retailers

Bechtel Weine, Pinot Noir, AOC Zurich, 2022

From the far north of Switzerland, steep slopes overlooking the Rhine river. Lovely fresh brambly nose, very delicate character to fine, silky tannins, fine sweet mid-palate. Bracing acidity and fine juice throughout. A very attractive wine, fine-boned with good grippy texture. Maturation is all stainless steel. The price is high for what is a charming but uncomplicated wine

Available from Alpine Wines, £53 per bottle

Domaine Jean-René Germanier, Pinot Noir Balavaud Vétroz Grand Cru, AOC Valais 2023

Stainless steel only. Dark intense nose. This has opulence quite dark and alcoholic, but with balance even though the mid palate is quite hot. Dry and tannic, spicy, savoury, with good weight and heft. Germanier is one of Switzerland’s biggest producers, with around 1m bottles a year from 150ha.

Available from Alpine Wines, £30 per bottle

Domaine Jean-René Germanier, Pinot Noir de Vex, Clos de la Couta, AOC Valais 2022

From a single vineyard steep even by Valais standards. Vinified in new 500l barrels, one third whole bunch ferment. Aged 16 months in oak.Fresh nose, very fine early palate with very distinctive 'classic' Pinot character, sweet and juicy with a very good dry finish washed with juice. A serious, foodie wine, the oak a little dominant at this young age but will be interesting to see how it matures. Sophisticated but very expensive

Available from Alpine Wines, £85 per bottle

Le Vin de l’A, L'Alter-natif, AOC Valais 2022

Founded in 2018, at four hectares and making some 15,000 bottles, Le Vin de l’A is one of the smallest estates in the line-up. Bright nose and on the palate tight intense tannins kicking in early on. Good fresh juice chasing brisk acidity. Textural, delicate with great purity of fruit. Assured winemaking, especially given the lack of intervention: wild yeast fermentation, about 40% whole bunch, 15 months in oak, no fining, no filtration, and no added sulfites. It’s easy to make but very difficult to make as well-balanced and charming as this wine.

Grillette Domaine de Cressier, Pinot Noir Réserve ‘Graf Zeppelin’, AOC: Neuchâtel 2022

From the Three Lakes region in the mid-west of Switzerland. 18 months in new oak French barriques. Powerful dark fruit nose with black cherry – rather good. This is a tannic, intense, young wine. The black cherry comes back on the palate slightly jammy but by no means unattractive. The tannins become tart. I’m a little dismayed by the oak which dominates the mid-palate. Will it calm down over the next couple of years?

Weingut Bad Osterfingen, Reserve Privée, AOC Schaffhausen 2022

From the German Swiss region. There’s a certain rawness to this wine – hot green notes on the nose that makes one wonder, is it simply youthfulness, or have they picked too early? With that greenness comes sweet opulence, so it becomes fresher. Bampfield says the raw tannins remind him of some German Spätburgunder. All in all it’s a hot, dry, tight mid-palate that softens in the mouth and ends with attractive (and welcome) juice. Eighteen months in French oak barriques

Cottinelli Weinbau, Halde Chur Pinot Noir Reserve, AOC Graubünden 2021

Still in the German Swiss region. This is 'Heidi country', Hardy notes. It’s where Johanna Spyri set her 1880 tale of a five-year-old orphan girl growing up in the Swiss Alps. To many Heidi is the personification of everything Swiss. The wine has a sweet redcurrant nose delicate tannins and nicely balanced acidity. There’s a bit of alcohol heat but a good, sweet, juicy length mitigates that. Rounded, opulent, very good. 

Weingut zur alten Post, Pinot Noir Novant, AOC Graubünden 2020

Only 600 bottles were made of this wine; the total output of this 7ha estate is around 45,000 bottles. Lovely ripe seductive nose leading to a very modern palate in the way that it is ripe, soft and perfectly attuned to what today’s red wine drinker wants – something that has complexity and depth but is fresh of colour, taste and texture. There are vegetal notes (this is 100 per cent carbonic maceration) but these are just part of a very attractive whole.

Histoire d'Enfer, Pinot Noir L'Enfer du Calcaire, AOC Valais 2020

Back to the vineyard-lined slopes of the Valais. This wine is aged for 12 months in

French oak barrels and 6 months in stainless steel. The nose is very fine and sweet with rich red fruit – seductive. The palate is bright, vibrant with soft tannins and tingling acidity and the earthiness of Pinot Noir. Juice at finish leaves you refreshed and ready for the next mouthful of the very good canapés that 67 Pall Mall supplies their members at tastings (at press tastings we make do with breadsticks). Very good. Bampfield is very impressed: 'This could stand against the best Pinot Noir in the world'.

Histoire d'Enfer - Pinot Noir Calcaire Absolu, AOC Valais 2018

From a smaller, chalky and very stony single plot, extremely steep at an altitude of 650m. The vines are 45 years old. Matured for 12 months in 600l new French oak casks. The chalk soil gives a light and fresh style, as do the big casks. Powerful, balanced, pure fruit with a very fine finish. An excellent wine as the last in the lineup.

Related Products

  • Switzerland

    Switzerland

    Switzerland

    Authors: Simon Hardy, Marc Checkley

    £12.99
    £12.99

Related Posts