Switzerland

For almost 2,000 years, vines have occupied the Alpine slopes of the Valais, where generations of growers built terraces and dry-stone walls above the upper Rhône. This difficult mountainside tradition survives in precipitous, high-altitude vineyards where elevation, cool nights and rocky soils preserve freshness. Chasselas, Gamay and Müller-Thurgau provide three contrasting expressions of this historic Swiss landscape.