Trocla Nera from the Canton of Grisons (CH)
Every Swiss canton grows, some grapes for winemaking. In recent years more than four-fifth of Swiss wine has come from the western cantons of French-speaking Switzerland: la Suisse romande. Valais is the most productve canton followed by Vaud and same way behind, Geneva. The Italian-speaking Ticino is fourth. The most planted white grape by far is the pale Chasselas. Muller-Thurgau, originally bred from Riesling and Madeleine Royale, Arvine and Humagne Blanc are also well known. For Switzerland’s fashionable and rapidly improving red wines, the most important red vines, growning all over the country, are: Pinot Noir, Blauburgunder and Clevener. Merlot is mainly concetreted in Ticino (The World Atlas of Wine 7th edition).
The Swiss wine producer Obrecht – https://obrecht.ch/ – located in the Canton of Grisons (CH), among its incredible production, has the Trocla Nera a great expression of the local grape variety, pinot noir .
Balance in Wine
In wines, balance can be thought as a set of scales, with fruit and sugar on one side, and acidity and tannis on the other. When assessing balance, it is important to consider how well integrated each of the separate components are: fruit or sugar could be balanced by acidity or tannin and vice-versa. With too little fruit or sugar, a wine can seem angular and austere. With too litle acidity or tannin, it can seem unstructured and clumsy. Alcohol should be well integrated, whatever its level, and so should aromatic components. When assessing a wine, always ask yourself three questions: “how is the overall balance achieved?”, “looking at the overall balance, how well balanced is this wine?” and “how well integrated are each of the wine’s components?” (WSET).
The Trocla Nera, vintage 2013, has been classified among 4% of the top wines in the world. This is what I consider an amazing balanced Swiss pinot noir wine: a must to try!