' in 2018 I Wil Be Able to Sel a Single- Varietal Gro E Arvine for E First Time'

‘ In 2018 I wil be able to sel a single- varietal Groe Arvine for e first time’. Olivier Pittet winemaker VINE Groe Arvine Completer, Lafnetscha and Diolle are a few of the grape varieties that were once widespread in Valais but have now almost disappeared from its vineyards. It was a miracle that they survived, and their revival owes a great deal to passionate individuals like Olivier Pittet who were inspired by these relics of the past. In 2013, our portrait of Olivier Pittet said: ‘In the plant a 200 m2 plot. Autumn 2013 will mark the varieties which were mistaken for it or blended 19th century, this white grape variety was com- birth of Les Temps Passés, a wine composed of with it as part of our revival. In 2018 I can expect mon in the Martigny and Fully regions, where 80 per cent Grosse Arvine and 20 per cent oth- 150 litres of Grosse Arvine from grafting, enabling it enjoyed a considerable reputation. Created as er white grape varieties.’ Five years later, Oliv- me to market a true single-varietal wine for the a natural cross between Rèze and an unknown ier Pittet remains a passionate small producer first time.’ To the producer’s regret, it will be sold variety, it was two family steps away from Petite working with just under a hectare of vines. He as a Vin de Pays, since Grosse Arvine is not yet Arvine (its grandmother). In 2008, when this has continued his search for the oldest plots of a permitted variety under the Valais AOC appel- young Vaud winemaker based in Fully began to vines and found some Grosse Arvine plants out- lation. With the exception of Benoît Dorsaz, who show an interest, there were only a few known side of Fully, enabling him to expand the genetic runs the 200 m2 conservatory mentioned at the plants remaining – so the thirty-year-old roamed diversity and quality of his plant material. ‘Many beginning of the article, Grosse Arvine spon- the region’s oldest vineyards, rummaged through of these old vines are heavily infected with vi- sored by the Grands Crus de Fully has not made the vines clinging to walls, and discovered sixty ruses, causing problems for winemakers who many inroads with Valais winemakers. ‘And yet or so Grosse Arvine plants, all of which were sad- might be interested in replanting Grosse Arvine. it is a grape variety with everything going for it’, ly infected with viruses. With its lacklustre name The situation can only be improved with signif- in the regretful words of this winemaker who is and what was then a negative image, scratched icant selection work that requires time, specific now showing an interest in another white variety from the official list of Valais varieties, this native knowledge, and consequently substantial funds’, that was created by crossing Rèze with Humagne grape was not stirring passions. Olivier Pittet was this passionate winemaker continues. Whilst ap- Blanche. This as yet nameless variety with con- not discouraged, and commissioned a nursery- proaching potential patrons, he grafted a plot of firmed parentage could also be making waves in man to propagate the plant materials available. Fendant vines with Grosse Arvine. ‘As it stands, a few years’ time. Photo: Régis Colombo/diapo.ch Régis Photo: In 2010, he decided to try the adventure and my Grosse Arvine contains 15-40% other white www.grossearvine.ch DECEMBER 2018 VALAIS SWISS WINE | VINUM 05 VINE Lafnetscha In Visp, e Chant family is making wine fr grape varieties at have bîn forgo en by e rest of e world. The most elegant of is U er Valais estate’s rarities is Lafnetscha, an unkn n native grape variety of e Valais. Genetic analysis of Valais grape varieties has minen vineyards, Josef-Marie Chanton decided shown that numerous grapes once thought of that since Lafnetscha had survived in the region as being native or indigenous to Valais have for- for over three centuries, now was not the time eign origins. Some – like Cornalin or Humagne to abandon it. ‘You can buy Merlot, Cabernet or kilos of grapes. The following year it was two Rouge – came into being in the Aosta Valley Chardonnay in any supermarket anywhere in tons of grapes. However, the generous price we before crossing the Great St Bernard Pass. Oth- the world. If you want to get visitors to this tour- were offering attracted some fraudsters who ers, such as Humagne Blanche, can trace their ism-driven canton interested in our vineyards, put a few Lafnetscha grapes on top of a crate roots back up the Rhone. For Lanetscha, there you have to offer then something unique. I had filled with Fendant or Johannisberg. We sent all is every reason to believe that it truly was born already planted Gouais, and I decided that I of these people home and decided to plant our in Valais. Its name, which means ‘do not drink needed to make wine from Lafnetscha’, explains own vines. That was in 1980’, Josef-Marie Chan- me too quickly’, is a reference to its considera- this nature fan who works with his son Mario ton informs us. Today, Lafnetscha is the biggest ble acidity and ageing potential. This offspring to cultivate seven hectares of vines across the of the rarities grown by the family, at 2500 bot- of Completer and Humagne Blanche that is ref- towns of Visp, Visperterminen, Leuk and Varen. tles a year. ‘It is a low-yielding variety, producing erenced as early as a 1627 text has always been ‘With my father Oskar, who created the winery 800 to 900 grams of grapes per square metre. grown around Visp. In 1970, when at Wädenswil but bought in all his grapes from winegrowers, However, it grows exuberant foliage that re- engineering school writing his dissertation on we advertised for people to send us Lafnetscha. quires a lot of work. In a relatively dry region the old grape varieties of Visp and Visperter- The first year we received five or six hundred like Visp, it has proven very resistant to disease 06 VINUM | SWISS WINE VALAIS DECEMBER 2018 ‘If Lafnetscha has survived in Visp for 3 years, n is not e time to aband it.’ Josef-Marie Chanton œnologist and only requires three to five plant health treatments per year’, explains this winemaker The rarest wines in the world who gave up insecticides three decades ago. ‘In ‘The New York Times recently mentioned our Himbertscha in an article about the rarest wines in the winery we still use native yeast to ensure as the world. A few days later, three members of staff from the US Embassy came to buy cases of typical a style as possible. For similar reasons, this wine, which we are the only people on the planet producing’, Josef-Marie Chanton explains. maturation (for whites all finishing their malol- This offspring of Humagne Blanche and an unknown parent is just the rarest of the curiosities actic fermentation) is entirely in stainless steel.’ made and sold (at 900 to 1500 bottles a year) by the Chanton family. This means that in Visp, With considerable acidity and touches of exotic you can buy Gwäss (Gouais in French), a variety that was once common in Europe and has aromas in its youth, Lafnetscha ages with great produced manifold offspring including Chardonnay, Gamay, Furmint and Riesling. You can also grace, our interviewee confirms. He organises ﬁnd Plantscher (or Gros Bourgogne), the child of Furmint, Rèze, one of the oldest grape varie- regular tastings of old vintages, attracting con- ties in Valais, and Eyholzer Roter, a red rarity. Sold at around 26 francs a bottle, these wines are noisseurs from all over Switzerland who come making the ultra-exclusive accessible, since they are ten to a hundred times rarer than any of to try Lafnetscha and other mature rarities the prestigious labels from the world’s great wine regions. Photo: Régis Colombo/diapo.ch Régis Photo: twenty or thirty years old. DECEMBER 2018 VALAIS SWISS WINE | VINUM 07 VINE Cpleter Thanks to two iconic Valais estates, Clos Tsampéhro and Marie-Thérèse Chappaz, this Graubünden grape variety is making a comeback in Valais vineyards where it was doubtless once widespread. ‘Valais locals are curious people who like to but only our white specialities really set us apart experiment with lots of things. The variety of from foreign competition’, according to this win- grapes planted is also part of the canton’s charm’, emaker planning to plant up to 6000 m2 of this The Walser: Marie-Thérèse Chappaz explains when asked variety that was first referenced in 1321 in Malans high mountain settlers why she has planted a new grape variety in her in a Chur Cathedral chapter document. At the eleven hectares of vineyards, which already con- time the variety was known as ‘complies’, the last Completer is not the only link between tain nearly twenty five. ‘The fragmentation of Val- sung religious service of the day. It was also the Graubünden and Upper Valais. These ais’s vineyards means that every winemaker has Benedictines who took it to Italy, Malans and Val- two Alpine regions were both colonised one or two small plots where many people have ais. These wanderings explain our Completer’s by the Walser, bringing their dialects, planted one or sometimes two varieties that they distant family ties with transalpine Marzemino. architecture and traditions with them. like. So when you rent or buy a plot of vines, it of- Having arrived in Switzerland, it then produced This people, whose descendants can be ten has four or five different varieties’, continues two offspring with Ticino’s Bondola: Bondoletta found in Italy, France, Austria, Liechten- this winemaker, who confesses that Completer (a Ticino curiosity) and Hirzkicher (a rarity from stein and Switzerland’s Alpine cantons, bowled her over.

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