Scurrying around in blue suits, the Gnomes of Zurich, are oblivious of the afternoon sun warming the Gold Coast on eastern shore of lake Zurich. Too busy chasing wisps of daydreams and misconceptions about happiness to consider that just outside of town, Bacchus is smiling down on hillsides that are full swelling grapes, loaded with sugar, and dusted with yeast, that will soon be turned into wine… the schmucks are worshiping the wrong god.
The wine industry in Zurich in the early half of the last century was not impressive. Here is one place where progress was not a bad thing. Around the 1960’s, Stickelbau, a labor intensive method for supporting the vine - the vine is wound around itself in a loop, forming basket – gave way to the much more practical Drahtbau, which is the wire method we see today.
Then science and technology kicked in to improve quality and increase productivity. Viticulture became a viable business and today more than half the 171 municipalities of Zurich produce vines: Zurich is the fourth largest agricultural canton in Switzerland with 600+ ha, and is the largest and most important wine region in Eastern/German speaking Switzerland.
Like most places in Switzerland, the climate around Zurich varies and affects the wines in diverse ways. Certainly there is no place in Switzerland where wine grapevines are abused as much by the cold, wind, and fog as in the hills of Zurich, and on the other hand, benefit from the temperature regulating effects from Lake Zurich.
This bi-polar upbringing results ins wines ranging from elegant white wines to very tannic red wines, full of character and capable of aging.
The wine areas are divided into four zones: Lake Zurich, Limmattal, Unterland, and Weinland. Nearly 900 growers, of which 124 are active in Vinification, accounting for 43% of turnover. The co-operatives follow with 37% and the retail wine trade with 20% of wine sales.
Given the climate challenges, the grapes that do well here are of the fast-ripening variety. The most planted grapes are the Riesling x Sylvaner (Müller Thurgau) and the Blaubergunder (Pinot Noir), the latter making a nice fruity-Berry wine
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