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"Ahhh... ohhh.... uhhh", you hear on the train when you travel from Fribourg to Lausanne in fine weather. This amazement and admiration is triggered by the panorama that presents itself when you leave the short railway tunnel before Chexbres. Suddenly you are in the middle of what is probably Switzerland's most beautiful wine region, the Lavaux, home to the Chasselas. Swiss Post has now dedicated a special stamp to this region - a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2007.

Three-part stamp with the Lavaux panorama on Lake Geneva (Photo: P. Züllig)

Stamps are - even in the age of e-mail - still the smallest of securities that every household has in stock. A 100 stamp (100 centimes) is needed to send a letter within Switzerland. That is why it is the most common stamp in Switzerland and thus one of the best pictorial advertising media. State advertising (the Post Office is not privatised in Switzerland) for a wine region, a rarity.

The vineyards in Lavaux lie on the northern slopes of Lake Geneva, a long stretch of vines from Lausanne to the famous Chillon moated castle. Two thirds of the vines are Chasselas - or Chasselas in French. It is therefore a typical white wine region, and despite all the differences in terroir, probably the most homogeneous wine region in Switzerland. For a long time, the term "Swiss white wine" was equated with the Chasselas grape variety. This is not entirely wrong, but it is no longer as clear-cut as it once was, when people were still aiming for large quantities. In the meantime, quality is the top priority here, too, because Chasselas can only be marketed if it is independent, terroir-specific and also supple. In other words, it is a fine, nuanced, differentiated wine.

The scenic surprise on the drive to Lausanne (Photo: P. Züllig)

It is not easy to make Chasselas popular with wine lovers who are used to riesling. Most people turn up their noses when you talk about Chasselas, especially when you use the German term Gutedel. At best, it is accepted as a Fendant (Valais term) to go with the classic raclette, perhaps even as an aperitif wine. The small, beaker-shaped, crystal aperitif glass that was part of the glassware of a Swiss household years ago has almost completely disappeared today. Chasselas is now served in elegant goblets, just like any other quality wine. There is even the special glass designed especially for Chasselas.

Two Chasselas glasses: on the left the traditional cup% on the right the quality glass (Photo: P. Züllig)

The best way to approach Chasselas is through the breathtaking landscape above Lake Geneva - 15 kilometres of terraces, some of which were laid out by the Cistercians as early as the 12th century. Anyone who dives into the golden-yellow splendour of the vines in autumn will also want to know what chasselas à la vaudoise (Vaudois style) tastes like. In any case, it tastes different from the Gutedel from Baden. I only really realised how different when I recently went on a wine tour in the Markgräflerland, the region between Lörrach and Freiburg. It can't just be due to the way the wine is matured (especially the biological acid reduction or not), but must have much more to do with the terroir. Even in Switzerland, Chasselas is quite different; on the lakes of Biel, Neuchâtel and Geneva or in Valais, one often has the feeling of having a different wine in the glass. Yes, even in Vaud, where Lavaux is located, one finds the most astonishing differences. "For another characteristic, I hold the Chasselas in high regard: Hardly any other variety lets the soil on which it has grown shine through so clearly", writes the Hamburg journalist Ulrich Sautter in "Mémoire des Vins Suisse", under the title: "A misunderstood genius".

The Chasselas grapes - misunderstood geniuses (Photo: P. Züllig)

If a stamp can lead to getting to know a wine region and its most important grape variety, then I find that remarkable. Stamps travel around the world, landscapes stay there and have to be visited. Only their image, their face, their peculiarity can be conveyed. But these impressions always remain an image, usually only as the sunny side of a region. In Lavaux it can be just as gloomy, cold and unfriendly as in any other region; just as there is not only Chasselas in Lavaux (about 60 %), but also red grape varieties, Pinot Noir (14 %), Gamay (11 %), yes, even Merlot (1 %). The share of Chasselas is declining, by a good 13 % in recent years. The profile of a monoculture of Chasselas, the oldest grape variety in the world (they say), is just as false as the common judgement about the "watery, neutral grape", which produces a wine that is "at best a meaningless accompaniment to cheap instant fondues".

The landscape alone ennobles the wine (Photo: P. Züllig)

I must honestly admit that I have become an almost exclusive red wine drinker because the mass-produced Chasselas, which for a long time was served as the Swiss wine, has increasingly "upset" me. Even today, I am not a white wine drinker and thus an unsuitable propagandist for Swiss white wines. But time and again, including recently on a wine trip to Lavaux, I have discovered a new secret love. Admittedly, it is not the great love of wine, but rather a small, charming flirtation with a grape variety that really can be (and is) more than what has been "sold" over the years as Swiss white wine, namely a "fruity, aroma-rich wine in a wide range of contents; from light, drinkable type to crus with a strong, alcohol-dominated character" (Chasselas website). Or simply a "misunderstood genius".

Sincerely
Yours

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