The eastern wine region in Switzerland might suffer some feelings of inferiority. It’s arguably true that the best wines in Switzerland come from the West, but lets keep things in perspective: the entire wine-growing area of East Switzerland, all 2,300 hectoracer, is smaller than just Valais. Here about 20 large wine cellars make half of the wine, cooperatives account for 30%, and the remaining 20% is made by the growers.
From Basel to the Grisons, the 17 cantons of eastern Switzerland’s wine areas range in altitude between 320 and 600 m, and offer a great variety in climate and soil types. The average annual rainfall amounts to between 800 and 1,300 mm.
North of the Alps is no place for sissy, late ripening grapes, so here you’ll find mostly Blauburgunder (which is Pinot Noir to most of us) and Riesling-Sylvaner (Muller-Thurgau). Other vines are Pinot Gris (Tokayer), Pinot Banc, Gewürztraminer, Freisamer, Kerner, Elbling, Chasselas, Completer, Gamaret and Granoir.
Almost needless to say, and therefore I’ll go ahead and say it, sometimes the vines may be exposed to frost. This is not a bad thing. The frost produces a similar effect as Botrytis does in Bordeaux: shriveling the grape and concentrating the sugar. The sweet result is "Ice-Wine". You have to have a certain amount of balls to leave your crop to freeze, because it’s a bit of a hit and miss thing, but when it hits, the result is a precious few, pricey little bottles of wine (Christmas hint).
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
