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Transcript:
Jose, you just released your book on the
history and grape varieties of Switzerland. Can you give us a brief history of Switzerland in terms of grape growing? Switzerland is a
treasure trove for ampelographers
Before going through history I need to
give some numbers of the actual
situation. We grow officially two hundred,
more than 250 grape varieties on a mere
15,000 hectares. It’s huge it’s probably a world record.
It’s really a lot! Out of these more than
250, I have counted 80 that are called
indigenous, and out of this 80, 59 of them
are crossings. Recent crossings obtained
in research stations, and only 21 are really
what I call heritage grape varieties. And
these heritage grape varieties cover six
percent of the country. For me these
numbers, okay it’s a lot of numbers, but I
think it’s a bit shocking because what
represents your own history, your heritage, your identity, I
mean when I say you’re a speak about
Switzerland, it’s only 6% of what you
produce. For me it’s not enough.
Why do you think that is?
Why it has become so? Oh well that that’s little bit historical, historically
related. That’s what we used to cultivate
before the mid 19th century. We had
introduced ancient varieties like Pinot, like Sauvignon, like Muscat, but we used to cultivate our own varieties. At the turn of the 19th/
20th century, like every other region we had to struggle with phylloxera that was attacking the roots of European varieties. When people had to
replant their vineyards onto American root stocks they had to make a decision,
do we continue cultivating what their father, grandfather, great-grandfather was
cultivating? Or do we choose something that is easier to sell, easier to
cultivate, more resistant to disease and more productive? That’s what they did. So
they replaced almost everything that was indigenous with easier varieties and we
have the result more than 100 years later. But Switzerland has a very, very long
history in terms of viticulture. Of course we know that the Romans have
introduced some in some places the viticulture, may be introduced some
varieties, but we have no evidence, and we have evidence that before the Romans, the
Celts were cultivating vineyards in Switzerland, especially in Valais where
we are right now, with this this video, And it dates back to 800 BC.