The country that sits between Lake Constance and Lake Geneva has a soft spot for wines from France, Italy and Spain. In recent years, interest has also grown in topics such as regionality and sustainability. Young Swiss winemakers are also finding an audience keen to try out their wines.
How things have changed
Looking back at the wine lists of high-end Swiss restaurants from the first half of the last century, it is clear to see that France was for a long time the benchmark in Switzerland, not only in restaurants, but also in private households. Bordeaux, Burgundy and, of course, Champagne were popular; Italy and Spain secured their place later. But unlike neighbouring Germany, where only a small proportion of the country is used for vine cultivation, almost all of Switzerland is wine country – from Basel in the northwest to St. Gallen in the northeast, and, from Geneva in the south to Italy’s Lugano in the east, vines are everywhere, with exceptions for mountain areas. Local wine has played an important role across the country as a highly valued everyday drink, including in restaurants. And in places where it was not possible to grow vines, such as the winter sports resort of Grisons, wine was imported, for example from the Italian region of Valtellina.
These days, it is less about short delivery routes and more about a wide choice, about quality and the desire to try out specialities. The Swiss consume less per capita than they once did, but the decline is nowhere near as marked as in other European countries. Over 43 litres per person were drunk annually in the second half of the 1990s, although this figure had fallen to 34.8 litres by 2019. But the increasing population of the country makes up for this, and has even driven some growth. In 2019, around 255m litres of wine were consumed – an increase of 4.7% compared to 2018. It is therefore not surprising that senior figures in the industry are pleased with the situation and are embracing the trends and tendencies. “The topics of regionality, authenticity and sustainability can definitely be described as megatrends,” says Matthias Tobler, CEO of Scherer & Bühler AG, a leading Swiss importer. “We have noticed that wines from the New World and overseas are doing less well, while wines from the Mediterranean countries, as well as wines from our neighbours Austria and Germany – and, of course, Swiss wine – are seeing significantly better development.”
Clearly, consumers want to know what they are drinking and, when in doubt, prefer things that come from more or less on their doorstep. Nicolas Joss confirms this new love for domestic products. “According to various ongoing studies, we are seeing a strong increase in sales of Swiss wines, primarily in supermarkets and via direct sales,” says the director of Swiss Wine Promotion AG. There has also been an increase in sales via the online sales platforms.
As to what the Swiss are drinking, it varies by region. “Per capita consumption is higher in French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino than in the German-speaking part of the country,” says Olivier Savoy, managing director of the Swiss Wine Trade Association.
The affinity for indigenous, local wine is more pronounced in the Latin regions of the country, where are also drastic differences in wine type preferences. In German-speaking Switzerland, almost 98,000 hectolitres of red wine were consumed in 2019, but only 45,000 hectolitres of white wine, while in Vaud it was the other way round (194,000 hl of white wine, but only 78,000 hl of red wine). Ticino, the southernmost canton, also has a strong preference for red wine, while slightly more red wine is drunk in Valais, which is home to the upper Rhône River Valley vineyards. “In general, you could say that the consumption habits of neighbouring countries are reflected in Switzerland; for example France, in the case of French-speaking Switzerland,” says Tobler.
In general, red wines tend to have a harder time than white, although in 2019 the consumption of white wine rose somewhat (+6.8%), particularly when it came to white wines made domestically (+7.5%). Foreign white varieties (+5.9%) were slightly behind. There was also a strong demand for red wine (+3.6%), with an increase in foreign red wine consumption (+3.4%) lagging behind that of Swiss wine (+4.3%), as with white wine.
When it comes to prices, there are significant differences. The average value of all white wines imported into Switzerland in 2019 was 4.70 francs ($5.08) per bottle, while for red wines it was 6.40 francs ($6.93). Retailers can confirm the shift towards buying domestically produced wines. “We are seeing increasing demand for Swiss wine and this applies to all types of wine (white, rosé, red),” says Sylvia Berger, category manager wines/sparkling wines at Coop, one of the biggest retail chains in Switzerland. “Swiss wines have always been very important at Coop: around a third of our wines come from Switzerland. Two out of three of the white wines we sell come from Switzerland.”
Along with the embrace of domestic wines, there is also a move towards new and sustainable wines. Sparkling and rosé wines are also on the rise, says the head of Swiss Wine Promotion, Nicolas Joss. Sylvia Berger from Coop also names these two categories as trends, while also adding organic wines. And Matthias Tobler sees a strong interest in Italy. “We are seeing continuous growth in wines and sparkling wines from Italy in particular. The Prosecco area is still growing strongly.”
In line with the trend for still wines, consumption of sparkling wine also increased by 3.3% to around 20m litres in 2019 – although consumption here, as with still wine, varies according to the season. “White wine and Prosecco are drunk more often in summer and red wine in winter,” says Sylvia Berger from Coop.
The forms of consumption have also changed. “There is a tendency for young people to want to try out new wines by the glass,” says Olivier Savoy. “Not so much in traditional restaurant settings, but more in adventurous gourmet restaurants and wine bars. Local wines are also consumed in the regions of origin.”
Young wine drinkers seem to be more open-minded than their parents. “More and more people are starting to show an interest in things like German Riesling or indigenous grape varieties from different regions of Europe,” says wine importer Tobler. “Quality rather than quantity reflects the trend towards individuality. Consumers are again increasingly appreciating making discoveries and finding wines with their own roots and stories and with rough edges that make them stand out from the crowd.” In general, of course, you first have to get young drinkers excited about wine – and that’s not easy, because young people are generally switching to drinking wine later and later. “It happens on average at between 25 and 27 years of age,” says Tobler. Wine also competes with fashionable products such as craft beer and hard seltzer. To avoid losing ground, it may help that there is a new generation of young and innovative vintners operating in Switzerland. Some of the newcomers have taken over the helm at long-established wineries, but new entrants to the industry are also mobilising. Both types of people have managed to get noticed beyond the borders of Switzerland – as demonstrated by winemakers Martin Donatsch (Grisons) and Tom Litwan (Aargau). Both at times address an audience that is only just discovering wine. “We wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a similar phenomenon with wine as has happened with beer, with all the craft beers and microbreweries,” says Matthias Tobler. The decline in wine consumption expected in 2020 due to Covid-19 is likely to be an unpleasant but temporary occurrence.
Wolfgang Fassbender
Switzerland at a glance
The Swiss economy is one of the world’s most advanced, ranked first in the world in the 2015 Global Innovation Index and third in the Global Competitiveness Report. Its citizens rank as some of the richest in the world, with a median salary of $6,500 per month, though it can vary by region. The economy is dominated by the services sector, in which banking and tourism feature prominently, which accounts for more than 75% of GDP.
The wealth and ease of doing business has drawn a significant ex-pat population to Switzerland; according to the government, nearly 25% of the 8.23m population are foreign nationals, clustering in the cities of Zurich, Geneva, Basel and Berne.
While crime is low and the quality of life high, Switzerland is also an expensive place to live. Not surprisingly, those inhabitants who live close to the borders take advantage of this proximity to go shopping, whether to France, Italy, Germany or Austria. Thomas Rudolph, professor of marketing and international trade management at the University of St Gallen, has found that the Swiss spend more than 10bn CHF ($10.8bn) every year in neighbouring countries. Wines stocked at stores and supermarkets near the borders, therefore, have a good chance of ending up on Swiss tables. Wines sold inside Switzerland are not taxed.
