Chandra's cooking with wine

Swiss wines are oenological treasures. Although our national production is limited, it relies on great expertise in terms of viticulture and viniculture. The result? A whole series of fantastic vintages that are unique in their genre.

I had to travel widely, discovering vintages from throughout the world, with countless tasting hours, to reach the conclusion that Switzerland is a real paradise for wine and our country occupies a select position in the global market for the juice of the vine. Swiss vintages are excellent; grown in a "healthy" way, they represent a remarkable aromatic diversity and, last but not least, they're very "morish", as they say. I don't think we shout loud enough about these qualities. We need to tell the general public more about them, both in Switzerland and abroad, even though it can also be good to keep your treasures under wraps. If you promote them too much, they can sometimes become a little too commercialised...

Six official winegrowing regions

It's difficult to find a global identity for Swiss wine, perhaps because the three major linguistic regions of the country (French, German and Italian speaking parts) – not to mention Romanch – have very different notions of taste and consumption, and an approach to viniculture and viticulture which is difficult to compare. But they all have one thing in common: winegrowers everywhere work to find common ground or in any case, seek common ground, precision and high quality in their wines.

Vineyards cover around 15,000 hectares in Switzerland, which represents 0.2% of the global surface and barely half of the vineyards of the Champagne region alone. They are found in practically all of the 26 cantons, in highly variable quantities. The country is subdivided into six official winegrowing regions, classified according to surface area: Valais (5113 hectares), Vaud (3838), German-speaking Switzerland (2593), Geneva (1297), Ticino (1065) and the Three-Lakes region (940). Red grape varieties cover at least 60 % of the surface, the prevailing variety among them being – to give credit where credit is due – Pinot Noir with 4450 hectares, ahead of Gamay (in the lead in the cantons of Vaud and Geneva) and Merlot, which found a second home in Ticino about a century ago. For white wines, Chasselas dominates with 4013 hectares, followed by Müller-Thurgau (Riesling x Sylvaner) and Chardonnay.

More than a million hectolitres

Here in Switzerland, we know we have high quality wines. We are also one of the only countries that drinks practically all of its vintages: 95 % of the annual production of 1.07 million hectolitres is actually consumed within our borders. Imported products must be added to this total, representing about half of this volume. With 38 litres drunk per inhabitant per year, Switzerland is one of the biggest consumers in the world. So our countrymen have an unquestionable love of wine, even if this affection manifests in different ways in different regions.

The main Swiss varieties

• Fendant: the Chasselas produced in Valais is called Fendant while in the canton of Vaud, it takes the name of its village or region of origin (Aigle, Féchy, Dézaley, etc.).
• Dôle: red wine blend from Valais. To obtain this designation, it must contain at least 85 % Pinot Noir and Gamay, with Pinot Noir predominating. Some winegrowers produce Dole based on 100 % Pinot Noir. More recently, other varieties such as Syrah have also been used for adding to blends.
• Dôle Blanche: rosé from Valais based on Pinot Noir and Gamay.
• Œil-de-Perdrix: Swiss rosé based on Pinot Noir. It can be produced throughout the country.
• Federweisser: white wine vinified with red grapes. Also known as Blanc de Noir, this is a historical wine which is barely produced any more, except in rare locations.
• Müller-Thurgau: another name for Riesling x Sylvaner.
• Blauburgunder: the name for Pinot Noir in Swiss German.