Wine region
Valais
Valais is Switzerland’s largest wine region: about 4,600 hectares of vines in the sunny Rhône valley, Fendant, Dôle, Petite Arvine, Cornalin and Heida.
- Vineyard area
- about 4,600 hectares, nearly a third of Switzerland
- Main grapes
- Pinot Noir, Chasselas (Fendant), Gamay; then Petite Arvine, Cornalin, Humagne Rouge, Heida
- Climate
- dry and sunny: about 600 mm of rain, over 2,000 hours of sunshine, Föhn
- Signature wines
- Fendant, Dôle, Petite Arvine, Cornalin, Heida
- Landmark
- Visperterminen: vines up to about 1,150 metres, among the highest in Europe
With about 4,600 hectares of vines, Valais is Switzerland’s largest wine-growing canton; nearly a third of the national vineyard lies here. The vines follow the Rhône from Visp past Sierre, Sion and Martigny down to Lake Geneva, mostly on the steep, south-facing slopes of the right bank, often on terraces held up by dry-stone walls. The mountains shelter the valley: with only about 600 millimetres of rain and more than 2,000 hours of sunshine a year, it is one of the driest and sunniest parts of the country. The centuries-old bisses, irrigation channels, carry water from the side valleys to the vines, and the warm Föhn wind helps ripen even late varieties in autumn. At Visperterminen near Visp, vines climb to about 1,150 metres, higher than almost anywhere else in Europe.
Just over half the area is planted with red grapes. Pinot Noir is the leading variety with a good quarter of the vineyard, followed by Chasselas with about 16 per cent and Gamay with about a tenth. Chasselas makes Fendant, a light, often slightly spritzy white whose name is protected in Valais. Dôle is the classic red blend: Pinot Noir and Gamay must together make up at least 51 per cent, Pinot Noir dominating, and since 2021 other red varieties may complete it. Valais also grows about 55 grape varieties, more than any other region.
Valais is famous for its specialities. Petite Arvine, the best-known native white, gives a racy wine with grapefruit and a salty finish; Fully is its stronghold. Amigne is at home in Vétroz, Heida, a Savagnin, in Visperterminen, and Silvaner becomes Johannisberg. Among the reds, Cornalin, late-ripening, cherry-fruited and firmly tannic, and Humagne Rouge, spicy and wild, stand for the old Valais varieties; Syrah has also proved itself in the warmth of the Rhône valley. Over recent decades the share of specialities has grown from about 15 to about 35 per cent of the area, largely because the native varieties were deliberately brought back.
Valais has a single cantonal appellation, AOC Valais, complemented by communal Grands Crus with stricter rules. Overripe grapes dried on the vine also yield the sweet wines called Flétri or Mitis, usually from Amigne, Petite Arvine or Ermitage, the local name for Marsanne.
What to drink: Fendant with raclette and fondue, Petite Arvine with fish and asparagus, Heida with alpine cheese, Cornalin, Humagne Rouge and Syrah with game and dried meat, Dôle with a Valais platter. A Flétri goes with blue cheese or simply with dessert.