Published by Jeremy.
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We do not see wines from Switzerland available all too often, and for the varietal Chasselas, we were intruiged.
Would the cool climates of the region produce a high acid, simple wine? Is there a microclimate we do not know about that would cause the wine to ripen more than we expect? We had no clue, truly.
While this wine was admittedly somewhat straightforward, it had a nice minerality and phenolic texture that made this one an easy drinker all around.
A Refreshing White from Switzerland
This Chasselas from Switzerland was pale gold in color with medium aromas of lemon, lime, grapefruit, pineapple, pear, and white blossom.
On the palate, it was dry with medium characteristics across the board- acidity, alcohol, body, flavor intensity, and finish were all somewhat middle of the road. We had notes very similar to the nose here with lemon, lime, yellow apple, pear, white blossom, honeysuckle, saline, wet stone, and a slightly waxy texture on the finish to balance things out.
Although you could call this wine simple from its flavor components and overall characteristics, the balance was still quite nice and the faint waxy notes at the finish helped elevate this wine slightly for us.
Chasselas Food Pairing – French Onion Soup
We paired this wine with homemade French onion soup (with oxtail broth) and admittedly opened this bottle of wine because we hoped the cooler climate would mean a bit higher acidity than what we got (we could entertain arguments to medium(+), but only a little bit).
That said, this wine did work nicely with the French onion soup all the same and an overall increase in the pear flavor was prominent with each sip. Was the food too rich and intensely flavored for this slightly more delicate wine? Perhaps. Did some of the wine find its way into the soup during cooking? Absolutely.
We absolutely could see how this could work with popular Swiss foods (fondue, anyone?) to allow the acid component to be a bigger star. But while we say this one worked decently with French Onion soup, we could see it working with slightly less rich foods all the same.
Score: 3 / 5
We'd buy a glass of this one.
This is the kind of wine that is simply easy drinking and, while relatively straightforward, still delicious all the same. The phenolic notes in this one help elevate the finish, and for that, we would happily take a glass if it was on a menu.
Schenk L'Alpage is produced in Mont-sur-Rolle, Switzerland. We purchased this wine on Wine.com and enjoyed it in 2023.
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