Muscat Ottonel is a member of the Muscat family. Used for dry wines in Alsace and Hungary, and dessert wines in Austria and Croatia. In Switzerland it is usually used for light, dry wines. It’s parentage is believed to be the Muscat de Saumur and Chasselas.
With the exception of the small cooperatives around Spiez, when you speak of the Bern wine region, you are speaking of the area around Lake Biel. Here on the shores of the lake, monasteries and nobles have been making wine since the Middle Ages. With the reformation in the 16th century, ownership ended up in the hands of the state, or the merchants from Bern and Biel. Since then ownership has shifted to the citizens living around the lake. 