Swiss wines

Wine history

Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries built the terraced vineyards of Lavaux, on the northern shore of Lake Geneva, from the 11th century. Those 830 ha of terraces, stretching about 30 km, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007, after voters had approved a Save Lavaux initiative in 1977 to protect them. Swiss wine has long been drunk mostly at home: in 2019 only 13,193 hectolitres were exported against domestic production of 979,445 hectolitres, mainly to Germany. A French-style appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) system was introduced from the late 1980s, with Geneva leading, and it is run canton by canton rather than nationally.

Wine regions and appellations

Switzerland has six wine regions: Valais, Vaud, Geneva, Three Lakes (Neuchâtel, Fribourg and Bern), Ticino and German-speaking Switzerland, with vineyards concentrated in the west and south. In Valais, white wine from Chasselas is sold as Fendant. Vaud is Chasselas country, and on its Lavaux terraces above Lake Geneva Dézaley is a Grand Cru. Neuchâtel in the Three Lakes region makes Chasselas and Pinot Noir, while Ticino, the Italian-speaking canton south of the Alps, specialises in Merlot del Ticino. Each canton sets its own appellation rules, following the AOC model that Geneva adopted first in the late 1980s.

Grapes and what to drink

Red grapes cover 57.9% of the vineyard and white grapes 42.1%. Pinot Noir is the most planted at about 30%, followed by Chasselas at about 27%, Gamay at 10.2%, Merlot at 6.9% and Müller-Thurgau at 3.3%. Chasselas makes the classic whites of Vaud and Valais: try a Dézaley from Lavaux, a Fendant from Valais or a Neuchâtel. Merlot is the leading red of Ticino, and Pinot Noir is grown across the country, including Neuchâtel. Because less than 2% of production is exported, most of these wines are rarely seen outside Switzerland, and Germany is the main foreign buyer.

Wine regions of Switzerland

• Three Lakes 1
• Ticino 1
• Valais 1
• Vaud 1

Grapes of Switzerland

• Chasselas 3
• Pinot Noir 1
• Merlot 1

Wine in Switzerland: questions and answers

Wines from other countries

• France 282
• Italy 70
• Spain 37
• Portugal 20
• United States 19
• Germany 18
• Australia 14
• Chile 10
• Argentina 9
• Austria 9
• South Africa 9
• New Zealand 6
• Greece 4
• Hungary 4