When the leaves on the Swiss hillsides start flaunting their autumn color, there’s a snug pleasure in burrowing into an old sweater (jumper) and passing the evening with good friends, keeping the chill out by lingering over a cheerful meal and a bottle of wine. Autumn is “wild” time in Switzerland, which means hunting season, and that means game meat is on the table. At this time of year the restaurants and markets around Switzerland start offering venison, wild boar, hare, wild fowl, as well as wild mushrooms, red cabbage, chestnuts, and Spätzle*. The portions are big, the fare heavy, and the sauces heady. So what kind of Swiss wine goes with it?

First joining the Swiss confederation in 1815, the canton of Geneva lies in the Rhône valley between Jura and the Alps. Almost surrounded by France, and one of the smallest cantons, it is one of Switzerland’s most important wine regions. Geneva is Switzerland’s 3rd largest Swiss wine region and accounts for about 10% of national production. Wine production has gone on uninterrupted here on Lake Geneva and around the city for almost 2,000 years.

Often going under the alias "Perlan", the Chasselas grape is the principal white wine grape of Geneva and it accounts for over half of the white wine production. However Geneva does well internationally with the more well known wine grapes: Chardonnay, Pinot gris, Pinot blanc, Riesling Silvaner (Müller Thurgau), Sauvignon blanc, Gewürztraminer, Scheurebe and Aligoté.

As for the red wine grapes in the Geneva wine region, Gamay does particularly well in this area resulting in a dense, fruity wine. In Geneva you will also find Cabernet sauvignon, Gamaret, Garanoir, Kerner, Merlot, Pinot noir and Syrah. It’s worth mentioning that a recent flurry of top international awards for Swiss Syrah wines have focused attention on Switzerland.

A Föhn is a weather phenomenon that influences the climate throughout Europe and in Switzerland makes it possible to grow grape varieties in regions that would otherwise be inhospitable.

Wine lives in the heart of Switzerland, and the heart of Switzerland is Zentralschweiz; the historic and mythological origin of the Swiss Confederation. It’s here that on November 18, 1307, as punishment for his defiance, William Tell was forced to shoot an apple off his son’s head. Tell’s defiance kindled the revolt that ultimately led to the formation of the Swiss Confederation.

In the heart of Zentralschweiz is Luzern (Lucerne). The sunny slopes of the vineyards here are concentrated in the wine sub-regions of Seetal, Vierwaldstättersee, Wiggertal and Sempachersee. Two lakes provide a regulating influence to the climate across the area and the varied geology gives the wine of the sub-regions subtle variations in character.