With its vineyard area of more than 600 hectares, the canton of Zurich is the largest and most important winegrowing canton in the swissgerman-speaking part of Switzerland.

The climate is generally quite mild and sunny, in places partially marked by foehn winds with moderate to high rainfall. However, there is a variety of microclimates specific to each wine area. Thus Lake Zurich and the rivers have a regulating effect on the temperatures and with the reflexion of the sunlight in the waters provide the vines with additional heat. Due to the lack of larger waters in other wine-growing areas of the canton, like the Zürcher Weinland and the Unterland, in those areas the risk of frost is slightly higher. The soil structure is very different from one region to another. There is everything to be found from moraine to molasse, to shale or calcareous soils. This explains the great diversity of grape varieties and types of wines that can be found in the canton of Zurich.

The canton of Zurich is divided into five wine-growing regions

Zürichsee - Lake Zurich

The winegrowing area on the outskirts of Zurich not only includes the vineyards in the villages of Meilen and Horgen on the right and left bank of the lake respectively. It also includes the replanted vineyards of the city of Zurich located in the municipalities of Uster, Pfäffikon, Hinwil and Knonau. The region can boast of being the birthplace of the unique white grape variety called “Räuschling”. It gives an iconic wine, which is the pride of the producers in the region of Lake Zurich.  www.zuerichseewein.ch

Limmattal

The Limmattal is part of the Dietikon district and is the smallest wine-growing region in the canton. Nevertheless the small villages along the Limmat (Oetwil, Weiningen, Unters and Oberengstringen, Urdorf) proudly advertise themselves as wine villages and successfully defend and preserve their wine-making tradition.

Zurich's Unterland

The Zurich Unterland spreads over the districts of Dielsdorf and Bülach. It is a very varied, hilly wine-growing region with pretty vine-growing villages. It stretches from the lively Zurich Airport, over the calmly flowing Rhine in Eglisau to the isolated Rafzerfeld. www.zuercher-unterland-weine.ch

Winterthur

The wine city of Winterthur, together with the villages of the district, form the gateway to the wine country. The long tradition of wine-growing in the region is reflected in the fact that the regional wine-growing association is the oldest in the canton. www.winti-wein.ch

Zurich countryside (Weinland)

The Weinland includes the district of Andelfingen with all its villages from Irchel to the Stammheimer Zipfel via Kohlstirst . As its name suggests, Zurich's wine land (Weinland) is the largest wine-growing region in the canton. www.weinlandwein.ch