Cave Caloz Cornalin Les Bernunes Valais 2020

Switzerland drinks almost all of its own wine, so it's rare for anything to make it across the ocean – but that’s not the case today! Cave Caloz farms just seven hand-worked hectares of steep Valais terraces, and was named Organic Swiss Winemaker of the Year in 2019. We snagged one of their most distinctively charming wines for a price that make trying something new a no-brainer. 

Switzerland is the wine country nobody talks about, and it grows some genuinely thrilling stuff high in the Alps. It just so happens that the Swiss are notoriously good at drinking nearly all of it themselves before it can leave the country. But when we found we could get our hands on wines from a producer like Cave Caloz, we pounced.

The Caloz family planted their first vines in Miège back in 1960, up in the Valais, where vineyards cling to steep stone terraces that have to be worked entirely by hand. Sandrine Caloz took over the six-hectare family domaine from her parents in 2013, and she's since turned it into one of the country's reference points for organic farming. The estate completed its organic conversion in 2017 and was named Vigneron BioSuisse de l'année (Organic Swiss Winemaker of the Year) in 2019. There are sheep grazing between the rows and jujube trees at the foot of the drystone walls. It's about as holistic as it gets.

The fun part of Swiss wine is the grapes – most of these you've never had, and a couple you literally can't get anywhere else on Earth. Grab them while they're here, because restocking is unlikely to happen.

Once called Rouge du Pays, the Cornalin grape almost went extinct and is now grown pretty much exclusively in the Valais. By the mid-20th century, it had nearly vanished before a handful of stubborn growers rescued it, and we certainly believe it was worth the trouble. This variety is like the lovechild of a Northern Rhône Syrah and a wild-hearted Barbera… deep purple in the glass, bursting with black cherry, blackberry, and crushed violet, with a peppery-spice kick and a signature snap of bitterness on the finish that keeps everything fresh. From the sun-trapping Les Bernunes amphitheater, it's juicy and just a little untamed – pour it with anything off the grill, a slab of hard cheese, or a plate of cured meats.