WTN: A few Swisspressions

A friend of mine happened to drop into Switzerland for a short time, so I drove down and we made a sojourn out to Valais for the day. Thanks to Tim York's superb post here we had a great place to stop by to taste some wines after a bit of hiking--the Château de Villa. I concur with Tim's review. Great selection, excellent guidance and education by the staff, and really cool environment (be warned, though, it gets to be a hopping place after 7 on a Saturday night--we were glad we got there earlier and had more personalized service as a result). We also stayed for a simple dinner of fondue and loved the experience. The logistics: L'Oenothèque du Château de Villa, Rue Ste Catherine 4 - 3960 Sierre. Tél. 41(0)27 456 24 29 http://www.chateaudevilla.ch/

I was also very impressed with the Wines of the Valais pamphlet we were given that is produced by the Interprofession de la Vigne et du Vin du Valais http://www.lesvinsduvalais.ch/. This pamphlet is a superb introduction for someone new to the Valais wine region, explaining the different grapes, regions, history, climate, et cetera. It is the best such material that I have ever seen for any wine region--especially important for a wine region like Vallais where there are 69 wine communes and 49 different varieties of grapes grown that have AOC status--and many of those (including some below) were new to me. This 32-page booklet would be a model for any wine region looking to promote its wares by educating visitors and consumers.

Below are my tasting impressions for the wines we sampled. Just impressions, mind you, as I wanted to cover a lot of ground and as I have never tasted Swiss wine before in my life, so I do not have a lot of context for these wines. Overall, however, I was impressed with the quality of the wines, their unusual and interesting features and with their quality-price ratios (prices are given below in Swiss Francs [SFr] which means that prices in dollars would be slightly less [1.00 dollars buys 1.20 Swiss francs] and prices in euros a lot less [1.00 euros buys you 1.66 Swiss francs]. And in addition to the high quality, I noticed numerous times a beautiful fading or melting quality to these wines, very interesting and potentially very addictive. There isn't a bottle of these wines that I would not be happy having--not a boring one among them.

So . . . in the order of tasting:

The Whites:

2006 Domaine des Crêtes (Joseph Vocat et fils -- Noës) Valais Johannisberg de Sierre (Valais AOC, Switzerland) 12.9% SFr 15 - Johannisberg is the local name for the Sylvaner grape, very lively, sweet and perfumed nose, full fruity approach, super spicy on the finish, enjoyed this one but also noticed some odd vegetal notes floating around

2006 Cave des Places (Laurent Hug -- Champlan) Valais Petite Arvine (Valais AOC, Switzerland) 12.9% SFr 19 - according to my server, Petite Arvine is specific to Valais and considered a local specialty, smell quite soft dairy and citrus notes, taste is quite a surprise after the smell, sweeter than expected, great rounded fruit, bit tropical, bit marmalade jam texture, very interesting

2005 St Jodern Kellerei Visperterminen Valais Heida (Visperterminen-Valais AOC, Switzerland) SFr 18 - Heida is a local name (along with Païen) for the Savignin blanc grape of the French Jura region, very little on the nose, perhaps some fresh grass, the taste is tangy, salty, and juicy, odd and different, quite interesting, then a world-class fade into something else, very much an intriguing wine--not sure how a bottle would turn out

The Reds:

2006 Cave des Places (Laurent Hug -- Champlan) Valais Gamay (Valais AOC, Switzerland) SFr 14 - smell chemical, nice firewater, bit of alcohol, lots of fun on this nose, taste bit odd fiery but dull, fades into absolute beauty, wonderful well-done fruit, light fun, but oddly great structure with tannins and such on sides of mouth, unfortunate finish, mighty mighty interesting and unexpected wine

2006 Domaine des Crêtes (Joseph Vocat et fils -- Noës) Humagne Rouge Coteaux de Sierre (Valais AOC, Switzerland) SFr 19 - Humagne Rouge is evidently called Cornalin in Italy--but that Cornalin is distinct from what they call Cornalin in Valais (confused yet?) smell big and hefty, ruby, bit of anise and alcohol, big and serious, taste very wild almost bitter intro, very classic, scrumptuous, very crunchy, very edible wine

2005 Cave du Vieux-Moulin (Romain Papilloud -- Vétroz) Valais Syrah (Valais AOC, Switzerland) SFr 28 - seductive nose, bit of nail polish, crazy berry, taste tart intro, melt-melt-melts into your mouth, smooth, refined, yet the flavors lurking in there are absolutely wild and unrefined, a superb match

The sweet:

2005 Cave St Philippe (Philippe Constantin -- Salgesch) Malvoisie Fers de Lance (Valais AOC, Switzerland) SFr 18 (375 ml) - Malvoisie is the name that is used for Pinot Gris when it is vinified in a thick, sweet style (presumably equivalent to the term Rulander in German wines, I think) smell sweet melon and something quite savory, mouthfeel is thick and a bit too viscous for me, nice intense sweet melon flavor, interesting unexpected spicy finish, lots of fun, but I don't think it would be refreshing enough for me to enjoy a bottle, perhaps lacks acidity

At this point, it was time for dinner, so we went over to the restaurant portion of the Château de Villa for wonderful fondue and a bottle.

2006 Denis Mercier Dôle du Valais (Valais AOC, Switzerland) SFr 17 (take-away) SFr 32 (in restaurant) - Dôle is a traditional red blend of Pinot Noir and Gamay, though I read that Diolinoir, Garnaret, Garanoir, Ancellotta and other red grapes can also be added--I am not sure what the contents of this particular blend were, smell light and easy, nice soft berry and cherry, wild fresh fruit, crazy acidity, the wine is like a hyperactive child at first and is all over the place, the acidity makes a fabulous match for a great, heavy fondue, very refreshing and can def stand up to the strong flavors and textures, as we wound down the night after the meal, this wine really stayed strong through the end, well balanced and a comfortable, yet still lively, companion, great match

Looks like a great time.

Is fondue a year round dish in Switzerland? Not too heavy for the summer? (Although I guess after hiking one does have a healthy appetite)

2006 Denis Mercier Dôle du Valais (Valais AOC, Switzerland) ...... the wine is like a hyperactive child at first and is all over the place .....

Love your description of the wine.

... the acidity makes a fabulous match for a great, heavy fondue, very refreshing and can def stand up to the strong flavors and textures, as we wound down the night after the meal, this wine really stayed strong through the end, well balanced and a comfortable, yet still lively, companion, great match

Reading about Dôle du Valais evokes wonderful memories for me. It's Swiss National day on August 1st, and I'm going to be making Fondue. Wish I could procure a Dole, but I can't - so a Gamay Noir or a light Pinot Noir might do the trick.

BTW - what do you mean by a 'heavy fondue'?

BTW - what do you mean by a 'heavy fondue'?

Is fondue a year round dish in Switzerland? Not too heavy for the summer?

Sue, I think I just find fondue in general to be heavy as a meal -- bread and new potatoes in gobs of melted cheese -- not anything specific to the fondue I had.

Rahsaan, certainly my understanding is fondue is more typically a winter dish. But then again, when I grew up during summers on a lake in Massachusetts, I would eat typical summer foods (watermelon, corn-on-the-cob, chicken on the grill, et cetera). But when we had one of those cold, rainy days that would chill you to the bone, our meals would shift toward winter favorites (hot soups and stews, oven roasts). I just remember my body yearning for such foods when it was comparatively cold during the summer. I imagine the Swiss are somewhat similar regarding fondue--by dinner time it had started to rain, the temperature had dropped significantly from its high during the day, and there was a bit of a chill. Add to that some Swiss were visiting from lower-lying areas where the temperatures are warmer and a July fondue works pretty well.

Keith

I am glad that you got to the Château de Villa and had the opportunity of viewing a range of Valaisan wines.

The indigenous varieties (Cornalin, Humagne, Petite Arvine, Amigne, etc.) are capable of giving truly original and excellent wines and the wines from grapes known elsewhere (Syrah, Pinot, Fendant, Païen, etc.) and local blends (Dôle, Gamaret, etc. - that Denis Mercier Dôle is a winner!) are pretty good too.

I am not so sure, though, that I agree with your view about QPR. In France, Germany and even Italy, there are still good wines available for less than 10 EUR but not, I think, in Switzerland. Still I do not begrudge paying between 15 and 30 CHF for various Cornalin, Petite Arvine, etc. in view of their unique character and quality fully equal to that of more famous grapes and regions. But is Valaisan Syrah at around 25 CHF truly competitive with, say, Crozes-Hermitage from Graillot?

I am not so sure, though, that I agree with your view about QPR. In France, Germany and even Italy, there are still good wines available for less than 10 EUR but not, I think, in Switzerland. Still I do not begrudge paying between 15 and 30 CHF for various Cornalin, Petite Arvine, etc. in view of their unique character and quality fully equal to that of more famous grapes and regions. But is Valaisan Syrah at around 25 CHF truly competitive with, say, Crozes-Hermitage from Graillot?

Tim,

Thanks again for the recommendation, I really enjoyed it. The syrah was pricey, but it was not representative of the price of the whole range--in which every other bottle was less than 12 euro. Two out of eight came out less than the equivalent of 10 euro and another three were less than 11 euro (though, admittedly, one of those was a 375). If this sample is at all representative of the prices of Valais wines (and I know that a number of these were marked up 1 to 2 SFr from what would be the purchase price direct from the winery), I'd say that's not too shabby. Though for full disclosure, I must tell you that wines from the USA make up some of my purchases each year--which may mean a bit more cheery disposition with regard to Swiss prices than someone who really knows their way around QPR wines in Europe.

This might be the sort of thing where the average price for Valais wines isn't so bad, but the low end where you can snatch up great quality wines for less than 10 euro is slim pickings compared to other parts of Europe. But overall, I was very impressed with the quality for the price.