If I were a grape ripening in Weingut Pircher’s terraced vineyards in Eglisau in Canton Zurich, I think there’s every chance I would give wonderful wine. This is an extraordinary site, sheltering beneath a densely wooded hilltop with the Rhine at its feet, a little way upstream from the town, whose steeply roofed historic houses hug the north bank. In summer the vines bask contentedly in the reflected glory of the blue-green waters of the river below. In the autumn, the still-warm Rhine gives an extra degree of toastiness to the ripening grapes, ready to catch the last of the post-equinox rays before the leaves turn to gold. Even in winter, the icy north wind that comes blasting up over the forest behind the winery sails straight across to the other side of the river, leaving the vines unscathed on their terraces.
The town records show that wine has been grown here on the Hinterer Stadtberg since 891 AD, but the citizens of 10th-century Stadt Eglisau would find this long-venerated hillside unrecognisable today. In the 1950s the steep slopes were completely re-shaped to give today’s distinctive landscape: where formerly rows of vines marched vertically down to the water, terraces were carved horizontally across the slope to simplify the work of winegrowing. Simplicity is a relative term though, and it’s still no easy task to work these vines. Even the smallest, nimblest vineyard tractor would have a job threading its way among the rows and all the work of pruning, tying back, weeding and harvesting has to be done on foot and by hand.
As tends to be the case with winegrowing, the steeper and more challenging the site, the better the chances of making good – or better still, great – wine. Soon after the vineyard facelift, Urs Pircher’s father planted a new generation of vines – principally Pinot Noir, which is now giving some of the estate’s finest wines. From the early 1980s when Urs took over, there was a conscious push for quality, with strictly reduced yields and the first small oak barrels for ageing the wines.
Pinot Noir remains their chief grape. It’s something of a house special and represents 60 percent of their whole production. They make three different wines with the grape: the top bottling, a classic, cool-climate Pinot of great elegance, is the one that represents the estate in the Mémoire des Vins Suisses. It is labelled simply Pinot Noir to distinguish it from the other two, which carry instead the variety’s German name, Blauburgunder. With what seems like understatement Urs describes the simpler, entry-level Blauburgunder as ein Alltagswein, an “everyday wine”. After a morning’s tasting on the terrace I came away convinced that if only I had the chance and lived a little closer, I would gladly have it as my everyday tipple. Fresh and brightly perfumed with raspberries and cherries, it’s just the ticket on a hot day, lightly chilled, and – for perfection – accompanied by the view through the vines onto the Rhine below.
If you visit, make a point of tasting their Räuschling. This is the rare white grape of mixed Gwäss and Savagnin Blanc heritage, which is grown in small quantities in a few choice sites around Canton Zurich. Because of its rarity value, this is one of the wines that makes a Swiss wine tour such an adventure. Always high-acid/low-alcohol and sometimes a bit lean, the Pircher version has gained extra flesh after many months spent on the lees. And if you tend to shy away from the more luscious Alsatian style of Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris, you’ll appreciate the way the Pirchers work with these two grapes to give elegant, bone-dry wines.
Their six hectares of vineyards have been worked without synthetic pesticides or herbicides for several decades and they are moving towards full organic cultivation. The only thing holding them back is mildew, the scourge of winegrowers in these cooler, damper regions. Though there are sprays – copper sulphate and sulphur – that can be used even if the vineyard is farmed organically, they’re less than ideal because copper residues remain in the soil forever.
One response is to plant PIWIs (Pilzwiderstandsfähige Rebsorten), the new generation of fungus-resistant, hybrid varieties which do not need treating against mildew. They’re not universally admired, but Weingut Pircher is trialling a small plot of one of them, Regent, which gives a deeply coloured, robust, fruit-forward red wine.
The succession of a small family estate can be a ticklish business, particularly if there is no obvious heir in the offing. In the case of Weingut Pircher, Urs’s godson Gianmarco Ofner, who already works side by side with his godfather, is primed to take over when Urs retires.
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ADDRESS: Hinterer Stadtberg 1 8193 Eglisau CONTACT: Tel. 044 867 00 76 |
WINES TO LOOK OUT FOR: Pinot Noir Blauburgunder Räuschling Gewurztraminer Pinot Gris |
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Price range 14 to 32 SFr. |
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HIGHLIGHTS: Wines can be ordered from the website, or taste them at the winery Saturdays 10–4 or weekdays by appointment. Eglisauer Weinwanderweg vineyard trail |
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