Swiss wine is relatively unknown. Very little of it is on sale in the UK, and few associate the country with wine. Yet the Swiss have a long history of viticulture – more than 2,000 years, in fact – and their wines are distinctive and well worth exploring.
One of the reasons Swiss wine is not widely exported is because the vineyards are so small. There are 15,000 hectares of vineyards in Switzerland, roughly the same as in the Alsace region of France, and around half the area under cultivation in Beaujolais. Add to this the high standard of living in Switzerland, which means labour costs are high, and the price of the wines is unlikely to be able to compete with that from nations which can offer bulk production and a cheaper workforce.
Bernard Rochaix and his wife Brigitte own Les Perrières vineyard, in the hills of Peissy. Swiss vineyards are the highest in Europe: some in the Valais region (where Peissy lies on the border between France and Italy) are under cultivation at 3,700ft. A seven-mile drive from Geneva along a winding road dotted with tiny hamlets, Les Perrières has been in the Rochaix family for two hundred years.
And the rustic scene has changed little during that time: dogs snooze in the shade, a truckload of grapes waits to be pressed and the family garden looks over a sea of perfectly pruned vines rolling away to the mountains like emerald necklaces flashing in the sun.
Less than 1 per cent of the 400,000 bottles produced by Les Perrières a year is exported to the UK, Japan and Hong Kong. Rochaix says: "My wife has been travelling around the world for 15 years trying to export the wine but it is very difficult to export Swiss wine. People say: 'But it is too cold in Switzerland, you only have cheese and watches and chocolate'."
And it's a great shame everyone else is missing out. In 2005, Les Perrières was awarded the Swiss National Prize for Agriculture for La Picholette de Genève (a blend of two wines, Gamaret and Garanoir). But it is Chasselas which is the most popular grape, a soft and neutral variety which picks up the differences in the soil. It produces a young wine – spritzy, light, with pear and apple and a tang of lemon. It is a good choice to have with fondue. Rochaix says: "Traditionally Swiss wine is enjoyed young. The main variety, Chasselas, has to be drunk young."
Among the selection of whites, reds and rosés, Rochaix picks out a Pinot Noir/Gamay blend – the light cherry fruit of the Pinot is given a peppery kick by the Gamay. He then enthusiastically pours a new Swiss variety, Gamaret (a combination of German and Swiss grapes, with one year in a French oak barrel). It tastes smooth with notes of blackcurrant and a spicy finish, and makes a great accompaniment to meat and cheese.
For seafood lovers, Rochaix recommends the Aligoté de Peissy 2005, a crisp light white with "almond, citrus and hazelnut aromas". Rochaix says it is great with oysters and the best time to drink it is up to three years after vintage. It is, he adds with a smile, also surprisingly good with cheese fondue. This may seem the case with all Swiss wine but Rochaix says his Sauvignon Blanc – with figs, almonds and a full-bodied taste – is more suited to seafood or as an aperitif.
A rosé option is Oeil-de-Perdrix, made from Pinot Noir grapes. The name translates as "eye of the partridge", because apparently the pale strawberry pink colour is similar to that of the fowl's eye. It is a fresh and fruity rosé, an ideal wine for Asian food, white meat, poultry, and wild fowl. Rochaix has one sweet wine – a late Pinot Gris de Peissy – but he is also producing a Muscat (which will be ready this year).
While there's little chance of finding Swiss wine on the shelves of your local supermarket in the near future, tracking it down will be a rewarding experience for the true wine-lover.
Factbox
Contact
Les Perrières, CH 1242, Peissy, Geneva, Switzerland. Run by Bernard and Brigitte Rochaix. Open six days a week 0900-1200 and 1400-1800. Call +41 22 753 90 00, lesperrieres.ch for online orders. UK suppliers for Les Perrières are For the Love of Wine (tel +44 1359 270 377) and Nick Dobson (nickdobsonwines.co.uk).
Buy in Geneva
La Cave du Palais de Justice in the Old Town includes vintages from Les Perrières among its dazzling stock of Swiss and international wines. Open Saturdays 0900-1700, closed Mondays. Tues-Fri 0900-1645. Cave Du Palais De Justice, Place du Bourg-de-Four 1, 1204 Genève, tel +41 22 311 40 14.
