Grape variety
Amigne
Amigne, the grape of Vétroz: about 40 hectares, nearly all in one village. The bees on the label, aromas of mandarin and lime blossom, origin and pairings.
- Colour
- White
- Origin
- Old Valais variety, shown at the Geneva ampelographic exhibition in 1878; parents unknown
- Grown in Switzerland
- About 40 hectares in Valais, mostly in Vétroz
- Typical aromas
- Mandarin, blood-orange peel, lime blossom, dried apricot, honey
- Classic pairing
- Foie gras, blue cheese, apricot tart; dry with raclette
- Bee label
- 1 bee up to 8 g/l residual sugar, 2 bees 9 to 25 g/l, 3 bees over 25 g/l
Amigne is the smallest of the great Valais specialities and the most local. Switzerland grows only about 40 hectares, and most of them lie on the slopes of a single village, Vétroz, between Sion and Conthey, where the wine is sold as Amigne de Vétroz and may carry, under stricter rules, the Grand Cru Vétroz designation. At the start of the 20th century the variety survived in only a handful of parcels; its revival is the work of a few Vétroz families over recent decades.
Where it comes from is not fully known. Amigne is accepted as an old Valais variety, shown to a wider public at the ampelographic exhibition in Geneva in 1878, and DNA profiling has not found its parents; the only lead is a possible parent–offspring relationship with Petit Meslier, an old Champagne grape. The vine ripens late, forms loose bunches that resist rot well and tolerates the dry Valais summers, which is why it lends itself so naturally to late harvests and sweet wines.
That sweetness is the grape’s identity, and Vétroz found an elegant way to label it. Since the mid-2000s the village’s growers have put bees on the neck label: one bee means a dry wine with up to 8 grams of residual sugar per litre, two bees a medium-sweet wine with 9 to 25 grams, three bees a sweet wine with more than 25 grams, usually from shrivelled grapes. The bee is a reminder that the wine, whatever its style, tastes faintly of honey. Whether dry or sweet, Amigne is full-bodied and generous, with mandarin, blood-orange peel and lime blossom, a slightly tannic grip unusual in a white, and acidity enough to keep it fresh. It ages well, growing more elegant and complex over ten years.
One-bee Amigne goes with rich dishes: a Valais raclette, a cheese tart, poultry in cream sauce, or spiced Asian food. The sweeter versions are made for foie gras, blue cheese, apricot tart and the end of a meal. Serve at 10 to 12 degrees.