Wine region
Ticino
Ticino is Switzerland’s Merlot country: about 1,100 hectares south of the Alps, given to Merlot since 1906, split between Sopraceneri and Sottoceneri.
- Vineyard area
- about 1,100 hectares, about 8 per cent of Switzerland
- Main grapes
- Merlot (about three quarters of the area); then Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Bondola, Cabernet
- Climate and soils
- Insubric, plenty of rain and sunshine; granite and schist in the north, clay and limestone in the south
- Signature wines
- Merlot del Ticino, Merlot bianco, rosato
- Landmark
- the Monte Ceneri, dividing Sopraceneri from Sottoceneri; the Mendrisiotto
Ticino is the only Swiss wine region on the southern side of the Alps. About 1,100 hectares of vines, nearly 1,180 with Graubünden’s Mesolcina valley, are spread over slopes, terraces and small plots between Airolo and Chiasso; that is about 8 per cent of the Swiss vineyard. The Insubric climate brings abundant rain, often in violent thunderstorms, but also plenty of sunshine and mild autumns in which the lakes of Lugano and Locarno store the warmth. About 85 per cent of the area is red, and a single variety sets the tone: Merlot covers about three quarters of the Ticino vineyard.
Merlot is an immigrant. After phylloxera and fungal diseases had destroyed the old vineyards of Bondola, the native grape, and other varieties, the canton looked for a grape that could cope with the humid climate. In 1906 the first Merlot cuttings from Bordeaux were distributed; the physician and politician Giovanni Rossi planted them on his Vallombrosa estate at Castelrotto in the Malcantone. The variety ripens early enough, tolerates rain better than many others and within a few decades became the Ticino grape par excellence. Nostrano, the traditional country wine from mixed varieties, lives on beside it, and Bondola is being cultivated again today.
The Monte Ceneri divides the vineyard into two halves. The Sopraceneri in the north, with about 300 hectares around Bellinzona, Locarno and in the Maggia, Leventina and Blenio valleys, has soils of granite and schist, more acidic and leaner; the Merlots here are slimmer, fresher and more mineral. The Sottoceneri in the south, with about 600 hectares around Lugano, in the Malcantone and the Mendrisiotto, lies on clay and limestone and is warmer; this is where the dense, barrique-aged Merlots that made Ticino’s reputation come from, along with Cabernet, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.
In Ticino, Merlot is made in every colour: as a powerful, often oaky red, as a light rosato and as Merlot bianco, a white wine pressed from red grapes that has become a speciality since the 1980s. About 26 varieties grow in the canton, and in the grotti, the open-air taverns under chestnut trees, it is served in the boccalino.
What to drink: a Sottoceneri Merlot with brasato, polenta and luganighe, a lighter Sopraceneri Merlot with mushroom risotto, a Merlot bianco with lake fish, a rosato with salumi and formaggini.