German Switzerland

German-speaking Switzerland (Deutschschweiz) covers seventeen cantons of small, scattered vineyards adding up to ~2,600 hectares. Pinot Noir leads everywhere, generally darker and more structured than in Romandie thanks to the continental climate and limestone-rich soils. The four villages of the Bündner Herrschaft in canton Graubünden (Maienfeld, Jenins, Malans, Fläsch) produce the country's most acclaimed Pinot Noir, with Gantenbein, Donatsch and Studach reaching the top tier of Alpine European wine. Schaffhausen's Klettgau district, Zürich's lake slopes, Aargau's Schinznach area, and Thurgau's Lake Constance fringe each contribute their own characters, alongside whites like Müller-Thurgau (a Swiss invention, originally bred by Hermann Müller from Thurgau in 1882), an increasingly confident Chardonnay across Zürich, Schaffhausen and Graubünden, and Completer, a near-extinct ancient grape rescued by a handful of Graubünden producers.