Swiss wine to flow freely in ambassador role

The vinyards of the Lavaux region date back 2,000 years Keystone

The foreign ministry has teamed up with the Society of Swiss Wine Exporters to encourage the serving of Swiss wine at embassy functions, as part of a new policy to promote the drink abroad.

Diplomats will be able to order from a wide selection of labels from all of Switzerland’s wine regions, with the ministry footing the bill in advance.

The new wine supply procedure, which came into force this month, was developed in response to parliamentary motions dating back to December 2011 calling for clear guidelines to ensure that only Swiss wine would be served at diplomatic representations and official receptions in Switzerland or abroad.

Some eyebrows had been raised at the serving of non-Swiss wines.

Encouragement

Switzerland has a long-standing tradition of viticulture, producing an average of 1.1 million hectolitres of wine per year, divided almost equally between white and red.

Legally, the foreign ministry is now tasked with “encouraging” the serving of Swiss products at official events. In practice, there is already a strong preference for Swiss wines at such events. 

Specifically, the ministry will from now on assume transport costs and pay for purchasing the wine rather than reimbursing its cost once it has been consumed, as was the practice until now.

A relatively small share of Swiss wine is exported as the demand at home is high and Switzerland is not widely known as a wine-producing country. Swiss wine currently has a 37 per cent market share.