Grape variety
Completer
Completer: the ancient white of Malans, first recorded in 1321 and named after the monks’ night prayer. High acidity, oxidative style, very long-lived.
- Colour
- White
- Origin
- Bündner Herrschaft, Graubünden; first recorded at Malans in 1321, parents unknown
- Grown in Switzerland
- Only a few hectares, mainly at Malans and Fläsch; small plots in Zürich and Ticino
- Typical aromas
- Quince, ripe apple, honey, nuts, orange blossom
- Classic pairing
- Aged alpine cheese, fine fish, shellfish
- Synonym
- Malanserrebe; Grosse Lafnetscha in Upper Valais
Completer is the oldest grape variety in Graubünden known by name and one of the strangest in Switzerland. At Malans, where wine growing is documented from the 10th century, it is first named in 1321. The name comes from Compline, the Completorium, the monks’ night prayer: the canons of Chur cathedral, who owned vineyards at Malans, were allowed a silent glass of it after the last office of the day. Because the growers of Malans tended the vine for centuries, it is known there simply as the Malanserrebe. Its parents are unknown; what is certain is that it is itself a parent of Lafnetscha, a rarity of Upper Valais born of Completer and Humagne Blanche. In Valais it even survived unrecognised, under the name Grosse Lafnetscha.
That Completer still exists at all is a stroke of luck. The grape ripens very late, yields little and has an acidity that turns razor-sharp in cool years. In the mid-20th century it stood on the brink of extinction; only a few vines at Malans survived. Since the 1990s growers in the Bündner Herrschaft have replanted, and small plots also exist on Lake Zürich and in Ticino. The total area still amounts to only a few hectares, and every bottle is a rarity.
Traditionally Completer is picked late at Malans, fermented to high alcohol and aged for a long time in old wooden casks, often with deliberate contact with air. The result is a golden, full-bodied wine with very high acidity and a slightly oxidative tone: quince, ripe apple, honey, nuts and orange blossom, with a saline, almost sherry-like finish. Some estates leave a little residual sugar to cushion the acidity. Young, the wine often seems severe; it needs at least five years and keeps for decades. Fresher, reductively made versions also exist today, showing the grape’s character in a leaner form.
At the table a classic Completer wants a counterweight: aged Graubünden alpine cheese, a piece of Sbrinz, fine fish such as turbot or sole, shellfish or poultry in a cream sauce. It also makes a fine contemplative glass after dinner, at 10 to 12 degrees, never ice-cold.
The variety is found almost only directly from the producers at Malans, Jenins, Fläsch and Maienfeld or in a few specialist wine shops; quantities are tiny and the best vintages sell out fast. Anyone who has tasted a mature Completer understands why the Bündner never quite gave up on this difficult grape.