Swiss raise a glass to winegrowers

China Daily | Updated: 2019-07-20 07:13

RIVAZ, Switzerland - When foreigners think of Swiss specialties that might excite their taste buds, world-renowned chocolate and cheese likely come to mind.

Swiss wine? Not so much.

But the global reputation of Switzerland's winemakers may be set for a boost, backed by a new export promotion strategy that aims to see Swiss labels on menus at the world's top restaurants.

In some ways, the Swiss Winegrowers' Festival, which opened on Thursday, mirrors the country's appellations: both could be considered extraordinary, yet both are hardly known outside Switzerland.

The festival, hosted in the country's winemaking Lavaux region, is recognized on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage.

First held in 1797, the festival has taken place roughly every quarter century since.

The main event, expected to draw 20,000 per night through Aug 11, is a theatrical performance dramatizing a year in the life of a vineyard, from pruning to harvest.

Ahead of this year's edition, industry experts agreed that the time had come for Swiss wine to spread its vines.

Damien Leclerc, sales director at Lavinia, a prominent wine shop in central Geneva, agreed that Swiss labels were "little known to the general (international) public".

But the Frenchman said that "insiders (and) professionals" appreciate that, despite the small output, Switzerland produces unique grapes and wines of extremely high quality.

"We have excellent grape varieties that really only exist here," Leclerc said, citing, among other examples, the Completer, a grape from the eastern canton of Graubuenden used to produce rich, full-bodied white wines.

Leclerc, also a sommelier, argued that for Swiss wine to thrive abroad it needed to emphasize "exclusivity", especially because it cannot compete with the production scale of its neighboring wine behemoths, France and Italy.

In 2018, the total area in Switzerland devoted to wine production amounted to less than 15,000 hectares, compared to nearly 800,000 hectares in France.

1 percent exported

Many of Switzerland's top vineyards are in Lavaux - also a UNESCO World Heritage Site - and the rest are on stunning terraced hillsides between Lausanne and Montreux, overlooking the banks of Lake Geneva, with the Alps in view across the water.

Monica Tomba, manager at the Lavaux Vinorama visitors center, said that after absorbing the breathtaking views and sampling the local offerings, foreign tourists - especially from Asia - voice regret that they cannot buy Swiss wines after returning to their home countries.

In fact, only 1 percent of wine produced in Switzerland is exported, according to the Swiss Observatory for the Wine Market, a market research group.

Swiss winemakers have historically been reluctant to export in part to avoid price wars with producers from other countries that churn out bottles on far larger scales.

Because many Swiss vineyards are on sloping terrain, much of the labor needs to be done by hand, an added expense in a country with already high labor costs.

Local winemakers - including small, family-run businesses - believed that competing internationally would require them to lower their prices, which is not economically viable, Tomba said.

Agence France - presse