A winemaker from Valais/Wallis was prosecuted for selling wine from Spain an Schaffhausen as AOC Valais. The revenue from the trick was around 12 million francs.
Selling Spanish wine as Valais, probably helped elevate the status of Valais into the âbarely drinkableâ category, so they should have kept the whole thing a secret
There are a few decent Valaisan reds, Humagne is one we enjoy occasionally in a restaurant, and the Doles, both red and white, can be quite reminiscent of French Rhone wines.
The stuff from just down the road here, though (Chablais, Aigle and others), mostly white, mostly insipid, or âdelicateâ if you want to be slightly less scathing, and mostly coming in at over 10chf a bottle⌠naah, Iâm sorry, Iâm not paying that much for inferior wines just because itâs local.
In other words, what I call a âsituationalâ drink. Same as those âItalianâ and âSpanishâ lagers that taste fantastic in Sardegna or Majorca, but are close to undrinkable piss if had at home.
Switzerland is not really blessed with a great climate for growing grapevines - and I suspect neither a proper soil.
However, knowing how industrious the Swiss are and how determined to make the best of what they have, I always had a curiosity about the Swiss wines.
Theyâre not the best we ever had, but they seemed OK for this climate. (maybe itâs important that you have a hearty meal before and then everything goes )
I suppose (older) Swiss people are more invested in supporting the local wineries and I find this idea great. Obviously, we cannot claim the same level of commitment, but we did try some of the Swiss wines. I agree theyâre a tad overpriced for their quality, if you compare them to the imported wines, but I am certain the production costs are higher than elsewhere and I think what they do is a niche and a bit crazy anyway, and I (sort of) like this!! However - no, weâre not having Swiss wine very often. I think the local beers are much better!!
Climate is literally changing One of the craziest trends is that Neuchâtel may become a place for Merlot.
Concerning prices, sometimes Swiss wines are overprices. But, a lot of times donât. And there are some oddities. When trub bier is not enough, chilled non-filtered wines are nice. In spite of being far away from the sea, Iâm amazed how the Heida and Completer varieties go along seafood. Pinot Noir from a few winemakers from Valais and Neuchâtel is great, but varies from year to year. Donât throw rotten fruit at meâŚthereâs even a quirky wine coming from a hybrid grape variety (Leon Millot) here in Aargau that somehow works.
But those are the oddities, in general I wontâ buy a Swiss wine in a shop. Either from the winemaker or nothing.
Last Saturday we, and a bunch of friends, did the Ballade Gourmand in Mount sur Rolle, on La CĂ´te. Basically a very nice meal in six parts walking 5 km through the vinyards. At each stop a âcourseâ starting with a gazpacho amuse buche, followed by fish, meat, cheese, dessert and coffee.
At each stop a chance to sample two of that vintners best wines. Some OK, some quite good and a couple that were excellent. At the end an opportunity to buy, or not.
There are some very good Swiss wines although expensive.
HeyâŚwe already have a decent Merlot in canton Ticino.
Helda and Completer seem like those nice local grape varieties, and Completa is the wine which was drunk by monks of Chur after the prayerâŚ(I just read it somewhere on the internet)âŚof course it is expensive!! Completer is cultivated mainly in GraubĂźnden, âover a modest 1.7 hectaresâ. (according to the site Baur au Lac vins)
I think I paid 30 CHF or so per bottle. Itâs about the price of champagne made by a Vigneron Independant in France. So, not cheap, also not outrageous.
Iâm always baffled at the talk about prices because even the cheapest bottle from Italy or Spain in a restaurant in Switzerland is at least 40 CHF for a 10 CHF bottle, and from thereâŚthe sky is the limit. So, I mostly drink beer or wine by glass when eating out. It hurts my soul paying for 2 bottles in a restaurant when compared to the same 2 bottles at home hahaha
PS. I got acquainted with cheap wines because company events. I drink it anyway at job event, but when I see the same bottle in a restaurantâŚitâs hilarious.
We clearly have different definitions, but thatâs well above the âoutrageousâ threshold in my book. But then I donât think Champagne is worth that much either; in general the CrĂŠmants dâAlsace we drink a lot of are every bit as good at usually something like a third of the price.
Restaurant prices are a different thing and really shouldnât be brought into the same equation as retail, be it direct, specialist shop or supermarket.
Ohhh Alsace. Just because itâs possible to find awesome Pinot Blanc at 7 francs per bottleâŚit doesnât mean itâs a ruler to measure the world. Anyway, 50 min drive from here
So many years and hundreds of thousands of liters and nobody could tell a difference but some accountants combing through the fraudster books. That tells a lot about the refined tastes of the wine connoisseurs
This discussion has to be moved to âhey snob, you have been switzerlandedâ
