Grape variety
Chardonnay
Chardonnay in Switzerland: about 400 hectares across all six regions, as a fresh white, in barrique and as sparkling wine. Origin, styles and pairings.
- Colour
- White
- Origin
- Burgundy; a natural cross of Pinot and Gouais Blanc
- Grown in Switzerland
- About 400 hectares; Geneva, German-speaking Switzerland, Valais and Ticino lead
- Typical aromas
- Green apple, citrus, pear; from barrique butter, vanilla, hazelnut
- Classic pairing
- Perch fillets, poultry in cream sauce, Vacherin Fribourgeois
- Styles
- Fresh from steel, barrique-aged, traditional-method sparkling
Chardonnay is the white grape of Burgundy, the variety of Chablis, Meursault and Montrachet, and at the same time the best-known white grape in the world. Genetically it is a child of the Middle Ages: a natural cross of Pinot and Gouais Blanc, the same pairing that produced Gamay, Aligoté and Melon. It takes its name from the village of Chardonnay in the Mâconnais. What makes it so successful is its adaptability: it grows in cool and warm sites alike, delivers acidity and minerality on limestone and takes to oak ageing like hardly any other grape.
Switzerland has about 400 hectares of Chardonnay, a figure that has been rising for years, and it is the only white grape that plays a part in all six wine regions. More than a quarter grows in Geneva, a fifth in German-speaking Switzerland, followed by Valais, Ticino, Vaud and the Three Lakes. The Swiss climate is on the cool side for Chardonnay, which keeps the wines fresh and sets them apart from the fat versions of warmer countries.
Three styles define the picture. Made in steel, Chardonnay is a clean, dry white with green apple, citrus and pear, drunk young. Fermented in barrique and aged on its lees it turns creamy, with butter, vanilla, hazelnut and brioche; this Burgundian path is followed above all by estates in Ticino, the Bündner Herrschaft and the Zürich Weinland, and the best wines keep for five to ten years. The third style is sparkling wine: in Romandie, especially in Geneva, Vaud and the Neuchâtel country, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir form the base of many traditional-method sparkling wines with a second fermentation in bottle. There it is prized precisely for its acidity and fine yeasty note.
At the table, follow the style. Fresh Chardonnay suits perch fillets, whitefish, seafood, sushi and vegetables. The oak-aged version wants richer dishes: poultry in cream sauce, veal, creamy pasta, mushroom risotto, and among cheeses Vacherin Fribourgeois, Tête de Moine or Appenzeller. Serve the fresh style at 8 to 10 degrees, the powerful one at 10 to 12, the sparkling well chilled.
To explore Swiss Chardonnay, start in Geneva, where the grape is among the leading whites and is made in both styles from Satigny to Dardagny, and compare it with an oak-aged Chardonnay from the Mendrisiotto or from Malans. Its international character long gave it a reputation in Switzerland as the anonymous grape; the best bottles prove otherwise.