For the first time in the country’s history, a wine from Switzerland has received 100 points from the restaurant guide Gault Millau, making it one of the best in the world. It follows a report from the Swiss government which confirmed that thanks to the weather, 2022’s vintage will not only be bountiful compared to previous years, but will also be very tasty.

Swiss wine from Valais named one of the world's best

Writing on the Gault Millau website, wine expert Robert Parker announced that Marie-Thérèse Chappaz from Canton Valais in Switzerland has produced a wine worth 100 points and that said wine will therefore be included in the latest edition of The Wine Advocate. The publication is one of the most important wine listings around, with 100-point wines seen as the best of the best.

Chappaz’s sweet wine, called Grain millésime 2020, Petite Arvine, Domaine des Claives, is the first wine from the alpine nation to ever earn a 100-point score. The vintner has also been proclaimed an “Icon of Swiss Wine” by Gault Millau.

Over 200 wines from Switzerland given high scores

With its handwritten label and sweet flavour, the wine is as tasty as it is rare - you won't be finding this wine in the local supermarket any time soon! Plus, if you fancy trying this wine yourself, you will have to fork out 400 francs for a bottle. 

Luckily for our economic sommeliers, the rest of the Swiss wine industry was also given a highly positive review by Gault Millau. The organisation reviewed 281 Swiss wines last year, of which 216 were given a score of 90 or higher.

2022 will be an excellent vintage for Swiss wine

This follows a report from the Federal Office of Agriculture, which revealed that Switzerland's 2022 vintage will be excellent. Swiss vineyards produced 33 million litres more wine last year compared to 2021 - wine producing cantons in German-speaking Switzerland like Zurich, St. Gallen and Schaffhausen, where the grape harvest was decimated by frost in 2021, produced 94 percent more wine in 2022.

What’s more, because of the heavy rainfall in August, the hot and dry conditions during the autumn and spring, and the absence of frost and hail during the rest of the year, 2022's wine will be of a much higher quality compared to last year.