The Swiss Wine Gala is always a high point of the year, and this year's event was no exception, coming at the end of an outstanding harvest and attended by 440 guests.

No less than 39 wines (from a shortlist of 79) were awarded prizes across the 13 different categories, while Salquenen producer Diego Mathier swept the board, carrying off the coveted title of Swiss Winery of the Year for the third time as well as the Vinissimo prize for Best White Wine in Show. The red Vinissimo award was won by Uvavins-Cave de la Côte in Tolochenaz (VD), while the Prix Bio (organic prize) went to talented Geneva grower Bertrand Favre of Domaine de Miolan in Choulex (GE).

The suspense is over: after a three-month wait, the Swiss wine champions were finally revealed this evening at the Swiss Wine Gala, held at the Kongress Kursaal in Bern in front of an audience of 440 guests from the wine world, plus politicians and journalists. The 13 category winners and the three special awards were revealed during the ceremony which had its fair share of surprises: the title of Swiss Winery of the Year was carried off for the third time by Diego Mathier (Nouveau Salquenen), who also triumphed with his blends, taking 1st and 3rd place in the white category as well as 1st and 2nd place for his reds.

Co-organised by VINEA association and Vinum magazine, the Grand Prix du Vin Suisse is the largest Swiss wine competition. This year 2867 wines from 525 producers were tasted in Sierre from June 25th-30th. Over the six-day period, the 158 expert judges tasted, noted and assessed wines from 19 different Swiss wine- growing cantons.

In August, the six best wines from each of the 13 categories were shortlisted and re-tasted blind by an international jury of 10 judges, to choose the final three winning wines of each category. The judges were impressed by the exceptional quality of the 79 competing wines.

Awards evenly distributed across Switzerland's regions

This year the awards were evenly shared by Switzerland's wine-producing regions, even if each tends to have its specialist areas of excellence (eg. Ticino which won all three of the Merlot category awards).

Valais is the largest Swiss wine region: wines from here won 15 awards, followed by canton Vaud (seven awards), Swiss Germany (six), Trois Lacs (five) and Ticino (four). Geneva took two awards, thanks to Sarah Meylan-Favre and her husband Bertrand Favre: Sarah's Gamay la Vigne Blanche 2017 from Cologny tied for first prize, while her husband took 3rd place in the 100% Gamaret, Garanoir and Mara category with his Garanoir 2017 (Domaine de Miolan, Choulex).

Special awards

Four special awards were given:

• Prix Cave Suisse de l’Année (Swiss Winery of the Year) 2018: Adrian & Diego Mathier, Nouveau Salquenen, Salgesch (VS)
• Prix Bio Suisse (Swiss Organic award): Chasselas Réserve non-filtré 2017 AOC Genève, Domaine de Miolan, Choulex (GE)
• Prix Vinissimo « Coup de cœur » Blanc: Heida les Pyramides 2016 AOC Valais, Adrian & Diego Mathier Nouveau Salquenen, Salgesch (VS)
• Prix Vinissimo « Coup de cœur » Rouge: Gamaret Réserve Collection Inspiration 2015 AOC la Côte, Uvavins Cave de la Côte, Tolochenaz (VD)

Results and photos

The full list of winners from the 12th edition of the Grand Prix du Vin Suisse can be found on the following websites: www.grandprixduvinsuisse.ch

Photos of the winners and the awards ceremony can be downloaded from 11pm onwards at: www.grandprixduvinsuisse.ch

For further info:

Emeline Zufferey, technical director Association VINEA, + 41 27 456 31 44 [email protected]