Seen from a distance, the Jura looks like a huge wave rolling in. In front of it are the three lakes, with their vine-covered slopes and Switzerland's vegetable garden in between. Once you pass through one of the narrow valleys behind the first mountain range, you feel as if you are in another world. The Jura region cannot be compared with the Alps. This also has something to do with the calcareous rock and the impressive rock formations such as the Creux du Van.
However, the expression of this terroir can also be found in almost all of the region's liquid specialties. The accents that winemakers, brewers and distillers from this region have set over the past decades, nay, centuries, are trend-setting. Switzerland's greatest contribution to international cocktail culture comes from here.
In valleys like the Val-de-Travers, there is one distillery for every 300 inhabitants. (How many distilleries does the city of Zurich have? Surely less than 1,400...) And a new generation of producers has caused a stir here in recent years. What are they doing differently and where are they following tradition?
A wine upside down
The southern flank of the Jura arc is characterized by wine villages, one of which, right next to Yverdon-les-Bains, bears the illustrious name "Champagne". The Vaud municipality has a vineyard area of just under 30 hectares, but the winegrowers are not allowed to mention the village on their wines. A year ago, they gave up the legal tug-of-war that had been going on for a quarter of a century against the sparkling wine producers from France.
This contrasts with the wines of Neuchâtel, for which there is an AOC. Only twelve grape varieties are permitted. The most common are Pinot Noir and Chasselas. For the latter, a Chasselas AOC is bottled unfiltered and may be sold on the third Wednesday in January after the harvest at the earliest. Around 15 percent of Neuchâtel's Chasselas production is now destined for this characterful white wine. As the bottle should be turned briefly before opening, several producers stick the labels of their non-filtrés upside down on the bottle.
Another specialty is the OEil de Perdrix, French for partridge's eye, a Neuchâtel rosé made from Pinot Noir whose roots date back to 1861. As the Valais winegrowers also produce OEil de Perdrix, the people of Neuchâtel like to emphasize that their wines are the original. The canton is also famous for its sparkling wine.
Mauler has been producing sparkling wine in Val-de-Travers using traditional methods for almost two hundred years, since 1829. In 1877, phylloxera reached the canton of Neuchâtel after the pest was first detected in Geneva a few years earlier. As a result, wine and spirits made from grapes became rarer, worse and more expensive - almost everywhere in Europe.
During this period, numerous winegrowers in Neuchâtel planted plum trees, which were ideal for distillation. The trees can still be found in the region's vineyards today.
A new AOP for plum brandy
For a long time, it was not clear which plum varieties were involved. The fact is that the name "Bérudge" stood for a variety and a spirit. The varieties Prune de Cornaux, Andrière, Chézard, Damasson rouge and Löhrpflaume were also common. As the distilleries and fruit producers of Neuchâtel, Fribourg, the Bernese Jura and parts of Vaud now submitted an application for the protection of "Eau-de-Vie de Bérudge AOP" to the Federal Office for Agriculture, the varieties had to be genetically tested.
The result was that no differences were found between the Damasson rouge and the plums of the "Bérudge" group. As "Bérudge" should in future only describe the brandy, the term "Prune Rouge" was proposed for the fruit and the tree. Bérudge should be allowed to be distilled from Prune Rouge, Prune Andrière or de Cornaux (the investigation showed that these are also two identical varieties) and from the Löhr plum.
The AOP Bérudge would be the second protected designation of origin for a plum brandy in Switzerland. The Damassine AOP from the canton of Jura is protected, with probably the strictest specifications in history. The reddish plums must be picked up from the ground and shaking the tree is prohibited. Fruit and distillates from several municipalities, vintages or grafted and non-grafted trees may not be mixed.
No wonder these top brandies are not in the low-price segment. Other (expensive) wild fruit brandies also have a tradition in the canton of Jura. Everything the hedgerow has to offer is distilled here: Sloes, rose hips, rowanberries, wild serviceberries and wild apples or pears.
The new generation of burners
Hervé Blanchard belongs to the new generation of fruit brandy distillers in the Arc Jurassiens. Not even ten years have passed since he took over the distillery in Porrentruy and gave it a completely new look. The bottles and labels have a modern, elegant and simple design - as is now familiar from other traditional fruit brandy producers.
Probably the most interesting project of recent years comes from the Gyger family in the Bernese Jura. The story of the "Distillerie de Souboz" began with Souboziane, a gentian aperitif, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. In the meantime, other herbal liqueurs and gins have been created. These include Fran-Gin, which was named the best gin in Switzerland by DistiSuisse in 2021/22.
The fact that six people now work at the company and that around 80 percent of the botanicals for the products are collected or grown in-house is proof that the Bern-Jurassians know their craft. Their "Gin Sapin de Noël" proves that they also have a sense of humor, with an entire Christmas tree (without decorations) ending up in the distillery.
The fun label and wax stopper with candle wick on this special bottling are a real eye-catcher. It is no coincidence that the distillery started with a gentian aperitif. Just a little further south of Souboz lies the Vallon de Saint-Imier with the River Suze. (The watchmaking village of Saint-Imier was the founding site of the anarchist movement "Antiauthoritarian International" in 1872) Pernod Ricard claims that gentian liqueur was invented in France in 1885 near Paris by a Monsieur Fernand Moureaux.
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issue 3-2024
BAR NEWS magazine as single issue
However, this story is not believed in Sonvillier. According to the version told in the Bernese Jura, the aperitif goes back to a Mr. Hans Kappeler, who is said to have sold the recipe to a French industrialist. The fact is that gentian thrives particularly well in the chalky soil of the Jura. "Almost every mountain restaurant has gentian on the menu," says Elodie Gerber. "It's the spirit of the mountain."
The 35-year-old took over a contract distillery in Orvin, just outside Magglingen, in 2017 and distils gentian as well as fruit. She usually distils the latter using her ancient 120-liter still, which was converted to gas ten years ago. Most of the spirits are distilled using more modern stills, and she also produces various hydrolates from her own and self-collected plants using steam distillation. The yellow gentian is protected.
In Bern, you need a permit if you want to harvest more than 100 kilos on your own land. The eight to ten-year-old plants are harvested in the fall. From 100 kilos, around five to seven liters at 45 percent by volume are produced. The Distillerie de Risoux in the Vaudois Vallé de Joux is a distillery dedicated exclusively to gentian. It is located in Les Charbonnières, a village known as the "European village of gentian".
Malt and the world's best beer from the Jura
A brief digression on beer from the Jura. The Brasserie des Franches Montagnes (BFM) in Saignelégier was founded in 1997 and has achieved cult status, at the latest since the New York Times named the sour beer "Abbaye de Saint Bon Chien" the world's best barrel-aged beer in 2009.
The Brasserie des Trois Dames in Sainte Croix, Vaud, had a similar status, but closed its doors at the end of 2020. As there is a malthouse in Delémont, several local breweries brew beer from Jura barley. These include the organic Brasserie Blanche Pierre or, in some cases, BLZ from Orvin, Blackwood from Porrentruy and the Brasserie Tonnebière in St. Ursanne.
All about the "Trouble"
The region's most famous specialty becomes cloudy when mixed with water. Absinthe is a topic that fills pages. And since we have already reported on it in detail in 2022 (1st edition), I will keep it short and only cover the news from Val-de-Travers here. On the one hand, there is the question of protecting the designation "Absinthe du Val-de-Travers " with an IGP.
There was recently talk of two designations. Although this would have protected the interests of both the larger and smaller distilleries, it would have caused more confusion among consumers than anything else. The members have agreed not to disclose the current negotiations between the Federal Office for Agriculture, the Interprofession and the Association of Small Distilleries. This is certainly also in the context of Claude-Alain Bugnon's high-profile resignation from the Interprofession last fall.
Christophe Racine, who represents the interests of the small distilleries, expects an agreement to be reached by the end of this year. The process that the absinthe producers initiated in 2006 with the first application for the protection of absinthe now finally seems to be on the home straight. On the other hand, it is worth taking a look at the stills of the region's new absinthe producers. A few years ago, for example, Céline Passard, David Denier and Julien Grünhagel launched a new absinthe project.
Since 2023, they have been distilling themselves in Fleurier on a Czech 150-liter still of the Kovodel brand. In addition to the standard "Distillerie Stillerie" range, the trio distils a limited edition of around 15 bottles per month on the smaller still. This results in experimental absinthes made with seasonal, home-gathered or otherwise unusual ingredients. The liqueur series with cinnamon absinthe, cinnamon vanilla and especially mate is also a discovery.
The liqueur range will also be supplemented in future with limited, seasonal bottlings. 95% of the sales of "Distillerie Stillerie" go to Geneva, where they have a customer base in the alternative scene in particular. Romain Wanner, who took over his father René's distillery two years ago, also has a new look. The 35-year-old journalist and copywriter lives in Lausanne, but travels to Couvet for one or two days a week for the distillation.
In addition to absinthe, Wanner produces gin, whereby the ratio to absinthe sales is around fifty-fifty. The maceration and distillation of herbs is actually the same for both products. In contrast to gin, however, absinthe uses a much larger quantity of botanicals. "With absinthe, there are around four kilos of herbs per twelve kilos of alcohol, whereas with gin, one kilo of botanicals is already a lot," says Wanner.
The young master distiller was able to celebrate a success at the last DistiSuisse. The "Absinthe verte 1918" was named category winner. Some producers outside the absinthe valley have also made a name for themselves with cloudy spirits. One example is the absinthe and gin distillery "Larusée" in Val de Ruz with its Falernum d'Absinthe or its Pastis.
The aforementioned Distillerie de Souboz also has a pastis in its range called "Sympastis". If you are traveling in Val-de-Travers, you should definitely visit the Absinthe Museum in Môtiers and pay a visit to Christophe Racine from the Absinthe Market right next door. In the watchmaking town of La Chaux-de-Fonds, the Origali cocktail bar is well worth a visit. In Neuchâtel, Waves on the roof of the Hotel Beaulac and the Moonshiners cocktail bar, which has just celebrated its first anniversary, are well worth a visit.
