TNWG Wine Times Ep 49: Wines of Switzerland
- aplofthouse
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
ANNOUNCEMENTS/EVENTS
💥 The Wine and Cheese Network is back in SEPT 💥
That's right folks, after the summer pause, we are back with a bang in September and what better way to start than to have Wake Smith Solicitors as our keynote speaker and Paces as our charity that we are all sponsoring via 10% of your ticket price for the month of September.
To grab your ticket, please head to the website via this link to make sure you book your place, as we head back into 'full steam ahead' mode for the month of September:
Look out for further announcements, but I can confirm we will be doing further Drinks Events in October :
Could there be a regular 'Wine Waddle'? POSSIBLY.
Could there be a Wine Monthly Delivery Services for S Postcodes? POSSIBLY.
Could there be a Wine Bus Vineyard Tour? POSSIBLY.
Stay tuned, there is a lot planned for the next couple of months, as well as Regular Residencies at various locations for drinks too!
👉 PRIVATE CELLAR BUILDS, PRIVATE SOMMELIER and IN-HOUSE DRINKS EVENTS👈
We offer a great range of additional services at The Northern Wine Guy including building wine cellars for private clients - that can be as little as 12 bottles upwards (the more the merrier!).
We can provide private sommelier services at your offices or at your private residence for large parties, gatherings or entertaining clients.
In-house staff engagements, meetings or socials. If you have a client you want to impress, then why not consider a Wine and Cheese Event? Or maybe you would like a Whisky and Cigar session? Rums? Sakes? You name it, we can look at creating it for you.
Just drop me a DM, connect with me here on LinkedIn or go to my website (www.thenorthernwineguy.co.uk) and create an enquiry.
🎄🎄CHRISTMAS - THE 'C' WORD 🎄🎄
I know, I know. It is August...BUT here is the thing...venues and events are being booked up and if you haven't thought about your Christmas Party yet, then you really need to get a move on!!
For Christmas - here are some thoughts from me:
Make sure you have your drinks ready for Christmas - don't leave it till the last minute and hit those big queues. Give The Northern Wine Guy a shout and we can discuss your requirements and get it to you with plenty of time before the main event.
Staff Christmas parties? If you have them, then let's get a venue sorted and a Wine & Cheese or Wine paired meal setup. Whisky Tasting? Have you tried Sake?
In-house event? No problem, bring the drinks expert to you - we can do this too!
FOCUS: Wines of Switzerland
Many people may not believe it, but this is one of my favourite places in the world to drink wine...for one it has views like the below, where I took the shot in Aigle, sat between the Alps and Lake Geneva....
Secondly, it is where the most planted varietal, that of CHASSELAS has a home and boy is it good!
🤫 In all seriousness though, I am letting you in on somewhat of a secret because outside of Switzerland, it is not very well known that they make some truly incredible wines. In fact, mostly because they only export around 1% of their wines!!
Switzerland ranks 20th in the world, with 146km of vines. If you calculate that as part of the total country surface area, it actually comes in 10th in the world.
However, what Switzerland does exceptionally well is that they consume around 35 litres per person in terms of annual consumption - which means only Portugal, France and Italy consume more!🤯
Not surprisingly the Alps and the Lakes play a significant role in the wine production and the climate. Lake Geneva is surrounded by the wine growing regions of La Cote (between Geneva and Lausanne), Lavaux (from Lausanne to Montreaux), Chablais (from Montreaux to Valais) and Savoie (within France). There is also Lake Zurich where vines grow on the shores, and Lake Constance sees vines in Thurgau and St Gallen. There is also a Mediterranean climate for the vineyards of Ticino which benefit from Lake Maggiore and Lake Lugano.
Grape Varietals
As mentioned earlier, a whopping 36% of the grapes grown in Switzerland are indigenous grape varietals. My favourite being Chasselas, but there is also Gamaret, Garanoir, Arvine, Amigne and others. There is of course the internationally known varietals too like Pinot Noir, Gamay, Merlot and Chardonnay.
🍇 Chasselas - a light white which has very subtle aromas. Apple, pear and citrus but also with the floral nuances of acacia (which I associate with this wine) and a lovely minerality running through it.
🍇 Amigne - can create dry, sweet and medium sweet wines. Typically you get lime, pear, citrus notes but with a touch of white peppery goodness. The sweet versions are more nectarine, orange esque.
🍇 Gamaret - a cross of Gamay and Reichensteiner, created in 1970, the idea behind it to produce a grape similar to its parent, Gamay. Purple hue, spicy aromas and powerful tannins.
🍇 Garanoir - Very similar story with the same parentage as Gamaret. Seen as Gamaret's 'brother', it creates fruitier and less concentrated, less spicy wines than Gamaret.
🍇 Completer - a grape varietal with a huge past, dating back to 1321! Complex aromas with quince, ripe apple, plum and honey. Very high natural acidity.
🍇 Bondola - rustic tannins and a pronounced amount of acidity, make this an interesting grape varietal. Pretty much solely grown in Ticino.
🍇 Cornalin - Aromas of black cherry, violet, raspberry, silky tannins with a little bitterness in the finish which marries beautifully with your lamb and gamey dishes. It used to be called Rouge de Pays but renamed in 1972.
⚠️ TNWG Tip ⚠️
If you are looking to do some wine tasting in Switzerland, look carefully at the opening times of their 'shops/tasting rooms' - quite often they are open for a couple of hours in the early evening - a great way of wandering around the local area you are visiting and sample a paddle of a few wines.
⚠️ TNWG Tip ⚠️
Towards the of September, a large number of the vineyards allow you to go for a half or full day and immerse yourself in helping with the harvest (this is pretty standard across the planet actually because every vineyard loves volunteers).
Also, at the start of spring, you can book on to on site visits to see wine cellars too.
Below is a list too of the 2025 regional award winners for well known Wine Tours / Tourism firms / Direct Wineries that you can use when you are visiting the region too:
Caves du Chateau d'Auvernier
Humus & Wine
Nuit des Capites
Le agriesperienze
De la Vigne a la Montagne
Sion Wine Bus
Weinweg Weinfelder
Unlike most countries, the system of regions and AOC's (appellations - areas effectively in the country) are very muddled. For example, there are 26 cantons of Switzerland. The first of these was created in 1988. By 2018 there were 62 different AOCs in Switzerland. There is also sub divisions too! In 2017, a total of 168 grape varietals were officially authorised for AOC wines.
There are also both 70cl and 75cl bottles on the market too 😆🤯
🗞️ LATEST DRINKS INDUSTRY ARTICLES 🗞️
Article of the Week: Western Australia's underwater winery hauls latest batch from the Southern Ocean
OTHER ARTICLES THAT CAUGHT MY EYE:
📈 MARKETS IN BRIEF 📉
On the week (as at 16th August 14:00) changes:
EQUITIES: ⬆️ FTSE 100 up 0.2%; ⬆️ DAX up 0.39%; ⬆️ S&P 500 up 0.9%; ⬆️ Nikkei 225 up 2.8%; ⬆️ Dow Jones up 1.7%.
COMMODITIES: ⬇️ Brent Oil down 0.6% ; ⬇️ Crude Oil down 1.1% ; ⬇️ Gold down 2.3%; ⬇️ Silver down 0.9%; ⬆️ Copper up 0.64%
BONDS (in yield terms): ⬆️ UK 2yrs higher 0.069%; ⬆️ UK 10yrs higher 0.128%; ⬆️ German 10yrs higher 0.0864%, ⬇️ US 2yrs lower 0.003%; ⬆️ US 10yrs higher 0.045%.
It's the summer season now so speakers are few and far between but those who have experienced markets in some shape or form, will know that the end of this month can get pretty choppy despite volumes being lighter than usual.
Trump continues to dictate the headlines, this week with no ceasefire after his meeting with Putin, but the big thing for me in the US to look out for next week is Thursday's press releases of US PMIs, Existing Home Sales and Initial Jobless Claims data. We also get the Fed minutes - always good to digest exactly who said what and how convincingly it was backed as a decision plus the Jackson Hole synopsis.
For the UK, it is the July inflation print on Wednesday which should turn heads for those that are in the office in the next week and not enjoying the backend of some summer sunshine.
In terms of interest rate cuts, we have the US pricing a cut in for September and two further cuts before the year is out. For the UK, despite having a cut which has been passed on by banks to your savings, if we have positive inflation and growth prints, then the likelihood of a November cut will shrink even more - good news for those who are looking at trying to maintain higher savings rates.
Outside of that, little to excite for now, so I will bid you a good rest of your weekend!
Best Regards
Andy a.k.a The Northern Wine Guy
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