We have been to Swiss wine tastings in London before 🇨🇭🍷🇬🇧. And we even went to a memorable wine dinner with friends in Zurich a couple of years ago at CADUFF‘S WINE LOFT just before it closed 🥳. One of my good friends 🙌 still can’t stop talking about the excellent Pinot Noir we had from Gantenbein Winery 🤩, located in the Grisons Rhine Valley in the German-speaking canton Graubünden 🇩🇪. At the dinner, we moved on to another, slightly bigger & bolder red wine 🔴, the “Pinot Noir vom Pfaffen/Calander” (2014) from the same region produced by Weingut Sprecher von Bernegg 👍.

Back then in Zurich 🗓️, we started our evening with a cheerful and fairly fruity sparkling wine called Charme Spumante Brut by Vini Delea from Ticino 🍾. But my favourite white on that evening was probably a lovely Gantenbein Riesling from 2016. 😍

Most wines I tried from Switzerland over the years were probably Pinot Noirs. While I am a big fan of Pinor Noir 🔴 and Riesling ⚪️, I didn’t fully realise at the time how big the diversity of wines is that Switzerland is producing 🍇.

Thanks to Swiss Wine Week London 📆, a global initiative by Swiss Wine Promotion, and a very interesting tasting at the WSET School London 🎓 by Simon Hardy DipWSET, co-founder of a new wine guide Alpina Vina, I learned that besides international varieties 🌐 like Pinot Noir, there are actually many local grape varieties which are used across all the Swiss wine regions 🤓.

With ten different wines from ten different producers 🔟, the tasting “A tour of Switzerland’s wine regions” covered wide swathes of Switzerland 🏞️🏔️ and highlighted characteristic varieties and wine styles from four Swiss regions 🇨🇭 including Vaud, Valais & Ticino in the South as well as Aaargau & Zurich in the North 🧭.

The evening was a great opportunity to try some wines which could be difficult to find in London 🔎.

Overall, I was particularly impressed with wines made from the local white grapes Arvine & Altesse ⚪️ produced by Domaine des Muses & Domaine Henri Cruchon, as well as the black grape Cornalin 🔴 produced by Domaine Histoire d’Enfer.

The delicious sweet wine 🍯 made from Amigne grapes ⚪️ by Domaine Jean-René Germanier was another surprise for me.

If you want to learn more about local Swiss grapes, Simon and his team have written up a useful list of local and indigenous grape varieties used across Alpine vinyards ☑️.

Of course, Simon showcased lovely wines from international grapes too, such as an outstanding Pinot Noir by Weingut Pircher and a very tasty Syrah by Les Celliers de Vétroz.

However, the most fascinating wine for me was definitely a white Merlot 🥳.

The “Bianco Rovere” is basically a Blanc de Noir still wine produced by Giali and Brivio in the Ticino region in the very south of the country.
I found this wine quite unique and intriguing. Its profile and structure was clearly benefitting from careful oak ageing 🪵.

This kind of wine is definitely something I will remember and look our for on wine lists from now on! 😆

We also tasted another quintessentially Swiss grape, Chasselas. I must admit that I enjoyed the other local grapes slightly more, despite the opportunity to sip a highly-rated “Premier Grand Cru” Chasselas. As one of the winemakers remarked during the tasting, there’s a Chasselas for everyone, so maybe I simply have to try some more! 🤔

We were very lucky that Simon brought a few wineproducers along to the tasting 🚜. It’s always fun to talk to the passionate people who do all the hard work 💪 and understand more about their products directly from them 👩‍🌾.

Switzerland is a fairly small country with a relatively small wine production and even smaller export volumes 🤏. It’s great to see that some Swiss wines make it abroad 🎉 and we can only encourage everyone to explore Swiss wines when you come across them 🇨🇭.

If you would like to organise a Swiss or other wine tasting for your friends, business partners or colleagues 🍾, please get in touch 👋.
We are more than happy to organise a tasting for you & with you. 📑
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First published in November 2024.