VINUM – Award Grand Prix du Vin Suisse 2024
A Grand Prix victory ceremony without the Mathier family on the podium? That happens very rarely. The wide range of wines produced by this winery, run by Diego Mathier, his wife Nadia and long-time cellar master Cedric Leyat, is admirable. Last year they celebrated a double victory with two vintages of their white Ambassadeur, now they are successful with their Heida, a variety that is steadily gaining in importance and is now grown throughout French-speaking Switzerland under synonyms such as Paien or Savagnin Blanc. The Heida Les Pyramides ripens in various plots at around 750 meters above sea level on clayey soils in Turtmann and Venthöne. Most of the wine is vinified in new barriques, although not all barrels undergo malolactic fermentation. After maturing in wood for nine months, the wine is ready to enjoy. The victory of this crus comes as no surprise to VINUM readers, as it already won a VINUM professional panel with selected Savagnin Blancs from all over western Switzerland in the spring of this year.
HEIDA
Heida Les Pyramides AOC VS: 1st place
Shines intensely yellow in the glass. Seductive aromas of ripe stone fruit, dried apricots, citrus fruit and orange blossom, underpinned by very elegant spicy notes. On the palate, densely woven with great aromatics, powerful phenolic grip, carrying juicy acidity. Great wine! 2024 to 2029!
First place went to the Heida from a winery that regularly achieves top rankings in the VINUM professional panels with impressive regularity. The Heida Les Pyramides 2022 from the Nouveau Salquenen winery in Salgesch clearly outperformed the competition. The grapes come from various plots with clayey soils between Turtmann and Venthône, around 750 meters above sea level. Fermented and matured in mostly new French oak barriques, the wine only undergoes partial malolactic fermentation. The result is a wine that perfectly combines aromatic richness and complexity with a juicy freshness.
