The Château Barillet of Genève

Discovering the wine region of Genève

Geneva, at the western end of Lac Léman (Lake Geneva), is the second-largest city in Switzerland and the country's third-largest wine producing canton after Valais and Vaud. Although not famously associated with wine, the city and its environs are home to numerous Vineyards and wineries, some within just a few miles of the Center. At 1,400 hectares (3,500 acres), Geneva accounts for 10 percent of the country's vineyard area. Gamay is the predominant variety here, with the Swiss workhorse Chasselas (often labelled "Fendant") and Pinot Noir taking second and third place respectively.

Other popular regional grapes include the hardy, oft-blended combination of Gamaret and Garanoir as well as the more international Merlot and Chardonnay. The red-white split is 56 percent in favor of red. The canton is home to numerous (around 95) small, generally family-run, wineries often with a large number of Varietal wines (albeit in small quantities). While many producers are clustered around the larger viticultural areas of Dardagny, Satigny, Peissy, and Soral, wineries are dotted around the city, some a stone's throw from the French border nearby.

The region also boasts 22 Premier Cru appellations, including Coteau de Bossy, Grand Carraz and Rougemont. Broadly speaking, the vineyards around Geneva are separated into three officially named areas: the Right Bank (790 hectares/1,900 acres), known as Mandement, encompassing the large Satigny and Dardagny zones as well as vineyards further northeast in Collex-Bossy and Céligny (towards the wider Vaud area on the "right bank" of the lake); Entre Arve et Lac (283 hectares/699 acres), nominally on the Left Bank of the Rhône river and the lake, this encompasses the Southeastern quadrant of the canton (south of the lake and east of the Arve river that flows northwest into the Rhône, joining it in the city) out towards the French side of the lake; it forms a Rough triangle between the towns of Cologny, Anières and Jussy; Entre Arve et Rhône (270 hectares/660 acres), on the western side of the city, including the areas of Lully, Veyrier, Soral and Laconnex The region also counts just over 120 hectares (300 acres) of vineyard officially in France but worked by Genevan viticulturists for decades. These vineyards, in what is called the "zone franche" ("Open zone"), are appended to the Geneva appellation. The Climate in Geneva is moderated significantly by the presence of the lake, which prevents summer temperatures from rising dramatically and slows the effects of frost and snow in winter.