The color is medium gold. The nose is very inviting, with notes of ripe banana and elderberry. In the mouth smooth and pleasantly fresh. The aftertaste, which last for a while, is dominated by the sustained acidity.
This rarity made with Lafnetscha is certainly worth trying at least once, especially if you are a wine enthusiast like me, who get thrilled by tasting godforsaken grapes.
Lafnetscha is grown exclusively in Upper Valais (Switzerland), where its presence is recorded since 1627. This unique white grape variety comes from a natural cross between Humagne Blanche from Valais and Completer from Graubünden (another Swiss alpine Canton). Lafnetscha’s parentage makes it a half-sibling of another extremely rare variety of Upper Valais: Himbertscha, also fathered by Humagne Blanche (its other parent is unknown).
Josef-Marie Chanton, who produces this Lafnetscha, is the winemaker that saved Himbertscha from extinction in the 1970s. Chanton is still the only producer in the world of this rarity, which he cultivates in a tiny vineyard at 700 m/s. The result is a highly acidic wine with strange musky notes.
Chanton Winery in Visp is committed to preserving other very unique grape varieties as well. For example Gwäss, a white grape that has been continuously grown in Upper Valais since 1540. Native of the north-east of France, where it is called Gouais Blanc, this very old variety has given rise through natural crossings to more than 80 new varieties throughout Europe, including Chardonnay, Gamay, Riesling and Furmint. For this reason it was nicknamed “Casanova”. Banned for a long time in France, it almost disappeared.
For this bottle of Lafnetscha I paid 27 CHF at the Vinothèque of the Château de Villa in Sierre, where some 650 wines from more than 110 wineries of the region can be found.
Country: Switzerland
Region: Valais
Grapes: Lafnetscha
Type: White
Vintage: 2016
Producer: Chanton
Price range: Medium (15-30 US$)
Pascal’s Enjoyment Index: 3/5