Salgesch
Salgesch - Wine village of the Mathier family
Discover the unique landscape of Salgesch, shaped by a gigantic landslide 13,000 years ago. Today, these special soils produce first-class red wines, in particular the Pinot Noir de Salquenen, which is renowned far beyond the canton’s borders.
About the wine village of Salgesch
The landscape with its 50 or so hills in and around the municipality of Salgesch, but also around Sierre and Leuk, was formed around 13,000 years before Christ, when no less than one cubic kilometer of rock broke away below Varenalp after one of the largest landslides ever to have occurred in the Alps in Valais. The rock subsequently thundered down into the Rhone Valley in Valais and covered the current area of the municipality of Salgesch in Upper Valais with limestone and magnesium-rich rock. It is thanks to this event and the resulting soil conditions that in and around Salgesch – known not only in Switzerland for its wine – red wines in particular thrive in the vineyards, especially Pinot Noir, which as a wine from Switzerland no longer needs to shy away from international competition.
The history of Salgesch
The municipal coat of arms of the picturesque Upper Valais village of 1500 inhabitants, where everything revolves around wine, is still adorned with the simple white St. John’s cross on a black background. The pious friars settled in Salgesch in 1325 for around four centuries. Although there is no documentary evidence of this, it is very likely that they chose the site near Salgesch not only because of the location, but above all because of the good wine. They built a hostel for pilgrims and travelers on a piece of land on what is now the Valais language border, surrounded by an impressive natural landscape and in the spirit of the order: the so-called Hospice de Salquenen. Pilgrims and travelers found shelter, accommodation and food at the hospice in Salgesch. Regardless of origin, religion or social status, everyone was welcome to stay here and the sick were cared for in the Spittel until they recovered.
St. John as pioneers of hospitality in Salgesch
In a figurative sense, the Knights of St. John were the pioneers of exemplary hospitality, which is still practiced today in the village of the Grand Cru de Salquenen, which is located in the district of Leuk. Salgesch is ideally located in the heart of Valais and offers a wide range of leisure activities. All the Valais ski resorts (with more than 2600 km of ski slopes) can be reached from here by car in less than an hour. The hiking Eldorado begins right on the doorstep with countless vineyard trails. If you don’t want to hike quite so far, we recommend the Pfynwald Nature Park. It is partly located in the municipality and not only serves as a local recreation area for the people of Salgesch and other surrounding communities, but is also one of the best-preserved natural and cultural landscapes in Switzerland. It is well worth a visit.
Prehistoric find
The fact that life was already good in this area of Salgesch long before our time was discovered during preliminary explorations for the construction of the A9 highway in the Pfyn-Finges Nature Park, when remains of one of the oldest settlements in Valais, dating from around 4700 BC, were discovered at the so-called prehistoric “la Pierre du Meurtrier”.
Grand Cru de Salquenen
It was the municipality of Salgesch that produced the very first Grand Cru in Switzerland. The wineries have to meet strict requirements if they want their wine to carry the golden label. For example, a maximum of 800 grams of Pinot Noir grapes are permitted in the vineyards. When harvested, the grapes must have at least 96 degrees Öchsle and must also come from integrated production (IP). Enrichment with sugar or even ageing in barrique barrels is strictly prohibited. After maturing for at least twelve months, the wine is assessed by a national tasting jury and must receive at least 18 out of 20 points to be awarded the proud title of “Grand Cru de Salquenen”.
The canton of Valais as a wine-growing region in Switzerland
Compared to the other cantons in Switzerland, Valais is the canton where the most wine is grown. There are around 40 wineries that cultivate the grapes of 40 different grape varieties for wines (white wines, rosé wines, red wines and sparkling wines) on a vineyard area of around 200 hectares. Of these, around 85% are red grape varieties and 15% white grape varieties. Salgesch can justifiably claim to be the Pinot Noir wine village of Switzerland. Not only does the Pinot Noir grape account for around 70% of the red grape varieties (the other grape varieties are Cornalin 4.7%, Syrah 3.5%, Humagne Rouge 2.3%, Merlot 2.1% and Gamay 1.7%). Among the white wines, Johannisberg leads with 3.5%, followed by Fendant with 2.7% and Petite Arvine with 1%.
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