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PRESS RELEASE 24 JUNE 2008
Close to 1,900 wines in competition!
A record Grand Prix du Vin Suisse !
The Grand Prix du Vin Suisse is enjoying a record-breaking level of success in 2008, with a more than 20% increase in the number of wines presented:
1,860 wines from 460 producers throughout Switzerland competed in this wine competition, 24-27 June in Sierre, Valais. Some 120 judges are deciding on the best
wines in 11 categories. The competition, organized by Vinea and wine magazine Vinum, provides a good profile of Swiss wine as a whole, highlighting the
rich diversity of this country’s production.
Switzerland, the country of wine! The extraordinary level of participation by Swiss wine producers in this year’s Grand Prix du Vin Suisse will convince even
the most skeptical that Switzerland’s wine industry is very dynamic. The number of wines registered for this second year of the competition is up 20%. Red wines (970)
slightly outnumber whites (890). The best-represented grape varieties are Chasselas (302), white single-grape variety wines (356), Pinot Noir (306), other single-grape reds
(223) and blended reds (238). The Grand Prix du Vin Suisse is the only national wine competition that is organized without state support and with no regional pre-selections and no quotas.
In other words, every wine producer in the country may participate. The wines, as a result, have come from every Swiss wine-producing region, from Valais, Vaud, Geneva, Neuchatel, Ticino and
with a good-sized group from German-speaking Swiss wine regions.
Strict selection criteria
The competition’s credibility is assured by its use of the proven international standards set by the Organisation Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin (OIV) and the Union Internationale des
Oenologues (UIOE). The wines are regrouped in 11 categories to take into account the wide range of wines on offer in Switzerland. Gold, silver and special prize winners are chosen at the end
of a very strict selection process by a group of specialist judges.
The results will be announced 7 November in Zurich at the Swiss Wine Night. The award-winning wines will, in addition,
be given special space in the European wine magazine Vinum. They will also feature in a special chapter in the 2009-2010 Swiss Wine Guide.
A reference guide for wine-lovers
The producers whose wines perform well in the Grand Prix du Vin Suisse will be given extra attention by the Swiss Wine Guide, the third edition of which appears in November in French and German.
It is being produced for the first time in English.
The guide is published by Ringier, Switzerland’s largest publisher, and it offers a wealth of information about Swiss wines and their producers. This encyclopedia of Swiss grapes and wines has
become an invaluable tool for wine professionals as well as the public at large. Included in the guide are details about the country’s top producers. It offers the most detailed and complete view
anywhere of Switzerland’s wine industry, so steeped in its cultural identity and so rooted in its terroirs — startlingly rich in their variety.
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