Glacial wine

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Glacier wine ( French Vin du Glacier , also Vin des Glaciers ) is an AOC -certified white wine that is produced in the Valais district of Siders , where it is pressed in the city of Siders and in the Eifisch Valley according to local tradition at an altitude of over 1,200 m. ü. M. is expanded.

Names and Manufacture

This traditional Valais sweet wine is made from wines from several grape varieties and different vintages that have an oxidative tendency . The oenologist calls this special expansion process the Transvasage or Solera method. a. is also used in sherry. This is why the glacier wine is also known as the “Sherry of Valais”.

The local Valais white wine grape varieties Resi , Humagne blanc and Petite Arvine as well as the traditional Valais white wine grape varieties Ermitage , Malvoisie and, increasingly, Fendant are used for the Gletschwein, which are found on the valley floor near Sierre at over 500 m. ü. M. grow. After the fermentation process in the cellars of Sierre, the wine is brought to barrel maturation in the Eifisch Valley at the end of winter - and thus close to the glacier (hence the name glacier wine). The aging takes place in larch barrels, which allow a small amount of oxygen to pass into the wine, and in cellars at a height of at least 1,200 m. ü. M. stand. In the year-round cool altitude, the yeasts in the wine remain passive and the acid is not attacked. Consequently, the aging period is at least 15 years from the first vintage in the barrel.

origin

The oldest surviving documents that report on the Valais glacier wine go back to the beginning of the 18th century. However, it can be assumed that it is much older, as the early documents still extant u. a. also highlight its popularity. In addition, the glacier wine used to be made from the local Valais white wine grape variety Resi. The old variety may be the variety described by Pliny the Elder as "Uva raetica", which was brought to Valais by the Phokers from Marseille .

Tasting

The glacier pig is a sour wine with a strong and long-lasting taste reminiscent of lovage and nuts. The alcohol content is 13 to 16%; it increases with age.

Burgerkeller Grimentz

The burger cellar in Grimentz , the one below the Moiry glacier at over 1,550 m. ü. M. is located, builds the largest amount of glacier wine with 4,200 liters. The barrels used come from the years 1886, 1886, 1888, 1934 and 1969. The wine is tapped directly from the barrel and not bottled, and the wooden containers are never completely emptied. Every spring the new wine is then added to the old one, with the help of a very simple siphon system first of all the oldest barrel from 1886, the so-called Bischofsfass , from which 25 liters are taken annually, is topped up with the wine from the second oldest barrel from 1888, etc. oldest wine is more than 125 years old.

Oxidative wines

Other well-known oxidative wines are: Sherry , Madeira , Port and Vin Jaune du Jura as well as Tokajer.

Web links

Wiktionary: Gletscherwein  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Glacier wine - the "Sherry" of the Valais, accessed on November 17, 2017
  2. ↑ Article 54b of the Ordinance on Viticulture and Wine (916.142), Sion March 17, 2004
  3. ↑ Vin du Glacier, le Glacier (d'Anniviers), Vin des Glaciers, Gletscherwein in: Culinary Heritage of Switzerland , accessed on November 17, 2017