Blauburgunder, did I hear you ask? Why you ask, is Schaffhausen’s nickname of Blauburgunderland? Well, because Blauburgunder - or Pinot noir for the rest of us - is by far the dominant wine grape in Schaffhausen.
Red wine makes up nearly 70% of wine production in Schaffhausen, and most of that is Pinot noir, some of which finds itself in a very nice late-harvest wine. There is also Cabernet Sauvignon, Diolinoir, Garanoir, Merlot, and Regent; not to mention Dorenoir, which is a blend of Pinot noir, Regent (itself a cross), and Dornfelder.
Riesling-Sylvaner (Muller-Thurgau) is the leading white wine grape in Schaffhausen, with Chasselas, Chardonnay, Kerner, Pinot blanc, Pinot Gris, and Gewürztraminer (sometimes making a flétri dessert wine), rounding out the white wine grape selection.
The Romans probably brought wine north to the canton of Schaffhausen, but it was the monks that spread the joys of wine around. The well-tended vineyards on the hills above Hallau, Oberhallau, Osterfingen, Schaffhausen, Thayngen, Trasadingen, Wilchingen, Wiesenthal, and others, benefit from warm, dry summers, cool winters, and the lowest amount of rainfall in eastern Switzerland. Today the little canton of Schaffhausen produces a rather impressive amount of good wine.
