Well I’ll be, a Swiss wine region where Chassalas isn’t the primary grape. Welcome to Ticino, Switzerland’s sunny, Italian-speaking, home of Merlot.
Ticino, which originally belonged to the Duchy of Milan, and was fully part of Italy for a while, wasn’t incorporated into the Swiss Confederation until the 15th Century. And although under Swiss sovereignty, not much effort was made to integrate the Ticino into the Swiss Confederation before 1803. Today Ticino’s Italian culture still remains firmly in hand.
The climate in Ticino is ideal for vineyards, but that didn’t guarantee success, or prevent its wine industry from almost completely disappearing at the end of the 18th century. First hit by Downey mildew, and then Phylloxera, they were unsuccessfully trying everything possible. Unsuccessful that is until 1906 when they brought in a venerable Bordeaux grape; Merlot.
The myth is that Merlot not only showed itself resistant to the vine louse and saved the industry, but that it immediately elevated the Ticino viticulture to world class. In truth things were more, well, Italian, "Vines grew nearly everywhere, in the wild, the middle of fields, between farms. ” Merlot was just one of several species and hybrids Ticino tried.
Another grape, “Isabella,” was memorable for the wrong reasons, according to Mario Fregoni (viticulture professor at the Catholic University del Sacro Cuore at Piacenzaregoni), “The memory of Isabella is still strong in some old men because of the illnesses it caused in drinkers.”
However, Merlot comes with a lineage, and by the Second World War it showed. In 1948 this was recognized, and the Canton created the Quality Designation «Vini Ticinesi» (VITI.) for Merlot del Ticine. Wine with the VITI designation is annually scrutinized by a commission. It is in effect a guarantee for the consumer that the Merlot del Ticino, in a classic Bordeaux-style bottle and bearing the VITI on the label, is of premium quality.
Today the Merlot is “the Ticinese wine par excellence,” accounting for over 80% of the wine produced in Ticino. "The largest surface area in the world which is cultivated by one single grape variety," according to the Ticino winemakers' federation. However, says, Mario Fregoni, it was, "through sacrifice, they built up a heroic viticulture on sloping ground, which fits in well with the marvelous local landscape”.
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