2017 Jean-Rene Germanier Fendant Vetroz 'Les Terrasses’

Region: Valais < Glacial Rhône Valley < Switzerland

Grapes: Chasselas

Vineyard/Cellar Stats: organic farming, 4000m glacial elevation, glacial moraine & slate soils, stainless steel tanks, 12% ABV 

Winemaker:  Jean-René Germanier & Gilles Besse 

MOUNTAIN MAGIC: Located in the Glacial Rhône/Föhn Valley of Switzerland, wine regions don’t get more alpine than this.  And this wine tastes like pristine glacier water!

We are huge fans of Swiss wines, but can rarely afford them, because the Swiss drink most of the supply, and what gets exported to the US is subject to a hefty tariff. So we’re excited to find one that is not only insanely delicious but actually affordable! Started in 1896, the estate is now on its 3rd generation of Germaniers.   Jean-René and his nephew Gilles Besse have been farming organically for nearly 20 years and still make the wine in the ancient 1896-era cellar. This Chasselas (locally named Fendant) comes from glacial moraine and slate soils, and boy can you taste it. When we first tried it, we thought it tasted like sucking up glacial run-off throw a straw!  It smells aromatic and fresh, like an alpine meadow. On the palate cantaloupe and zingy spice pair up with the lip-smacking, juicy taste of dry, minerally, rocky goodness! It tastes almost like the zany cousin of grüner veltliner. In 2017, the frost was so bad they lost nearly half of their production, but they were able to eek out a few hundred cases of this insanely mineral, linear white, which we think is the crunchiest, best introduction to Swiss wine yet.