Neuchâtel

Bienvenue à Neuchâtel! The Neuchâtel wine-growing region is located in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. The designation of origin for wines from this beautiful region on the lake is correspondingly bilingual: aoc Neuchâtel or aoc Neuenburg. The charming city with its 178,000 inhabitants is part of the Three Lakes Province wine-growing region, which covers parts of the cantons of Bern, Fribourg, Neuchâtel and Vaud. For years, white grapes dominated the Neuchâtel vineyards, but times have changed: currently almost 60 per cent of the 600 hectares are planted with red grape varieties. Pinot noir is considered the most important variety for red wine, Chasselas for white wine. The Chardonnay, Gamaret, Garanoir, Müller-Thurgau and Pinot grigio varieties are also popular and cultivated in many places. The Three Lakes region is best known for its Oeil-de-Perdrix (the name means partridge eye) rosé wine, which is made from Pinot noir.