Producing Swiss Emmental cheese (image, Swiss Cheese Marketing)
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss are the world leaders in eating cheese and for 2009 the country set a new record for per person consumption, 21.4 kg. New 2009 figures from the Swissmilk show that in economically tight times the Swiss ate more, not less cheese, with consumption rising by 240g per person. The preference is for fresh, medium-hard cheeses.
Swiss cheese consumption 2009 (table, Swissmilk - click on image to view larger)
Those numbers are not as reassuring as the Swissmilk, the national milk farmers’ federation would like because foreign cheeses accounted for the increase, with Switzerland consuming 310g more of imported cheese, per person, and 70g less of Swiss cheese.
Appenzeller was the big loser, with consumption falling 10.5 percent, and Emmental was the big winner, up 7.5 percent. Switzerland Cheese Marketing will lead a country-wide publicity campaign to push the quality of Swiss cheese to consumers, starting in May 2010.
Elisabeth Pasquier, Francois Murisier, Vinea's director and president, 2010
Sierre, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Vinea, a Valais-based association that was created 15 years ago to showcase the wines of Switzerland’s largest wine-producing canton, has grown into a major player in the wine world, far beyond its original Valais borders. Tuesday evening the group gave itself a new structure to better place it to educate the world about Swiss wines.
The wine business accounts for 15 percent of agricultural products, about half that of Swiss dairy products, including cheese. Agriculture is 1 percent of Swiss GDP (gross domestic product) overall, well behind industry and the service sector, which includes banking. But wine remains an important part of Swiss society, especially in French-speaking areas where vineyards often dominate the landscape.
New statutes were approved for Vinea to reflect the growing number of activities and work it does outside canton Valais. One of the country’s best-known wine experts, François Murisier, was named president of the revised association, with Elisabeth Pasquier, the former managing director, named to the new post of director.
Murisier is the former head of wine grape growing and oenology at the Swiss federal centre, Agroscope Changins-Waedenswil. He is an expert with the OIV (International Organization of Vin and Wine) and president of the scientific committee of Cervim, a mountain wines organization.
Discreet Swiss hotel windows are sometimes a good minibar substitute
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The 55,000 mini-bars in Swiss hotels consume far more energy than the average home refrigerator for a family of four, some 24 million kW hours in a year. The heart of the problem is the sad news for hotel clients who love drinks in their rooms that a 40-litre minibar consumes 0.9 kW/h versus the 0.24 that a 150-litre refrigerator uses.
Click on image to view larger
Geneva's top wines are often red
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss carried on drinking wine in much the same way in 2008 as in 2007, consuming 2.78 million hectolitres (1 hectolitre = 100 litres or 22 gallons) of wine, roughly 36 bottles per person for the year for the permanent population of 7.7 million. But they drank less red wine from abroad, down 3 percent, and more foreign white wine, up 5.1 percent, the Swiss agriculture ministry says. Red wine continues to dominate, despite foreigners’ common perception that Switzerland is a land of white wines: 69 percent of wine consumed last year was red.
Valais, Swiss hydroelectric power
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A strong GDP (gross domestic product), larger population and leap year all contributed to a 2.3 percent increase in energy consumption in Switzerland in 2008, the federal government says. The 58.7 billion kilowatt hours set a record for annual consumption. Electricity production also set a record, up 1.6 percent, but it was unable to keep pace with consumption and Swiss electricity exports to neighbouring countries in summer were nearly halved. In winter, when Switzerland imports some electricity, the amount needed rose.
Bern, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – The Swiss have been increasing their consumption of fresh vegetables and in 2007 they ate a record 75 kg per person, with carrots (8.94 kg per person) heading the list, followed by tomatoes, with 8.48 kg. Lightweight iceberg lettuce comes in third, with a mere 3.93kg per person. Source: Swiss truck gardening centre.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss wine producers at the opening today of Arvinis in Morges will be smiling, with the government announcing Tuesday the first upturn in wine consumption in several years. Figures for 2007 show a 3.6% overall increase in wine consumed, but with a rise of 5.7% for Swiss wines and 2.3% for foreign wines. Non-Swiss wines nevertheless remain a substantial part of the market, with 1.7 hectolitres out of a total of 2.8 hectolitres consumed.
Pinot noir, the grape made famous by Burgundy but grown widely throughout the world, is Switzerland’s largest variety, with 4,449 hectares planted. Chasselas, the white grape often associated with Swiss wine, is the second most common variety, with 4,265 hectares planted. Red wine accounts for 51% of the total produced, with white wine having 49%.
Switzerland is notable for the variety of grapes grown because of the large variations in terroirs, with their specific mixes of soil, air, altitude and light. There was strong growth in several new varieties and some of the specialty grapes in 2007, including Gamaret (+18 ha), Merlot (+17 ha), Garanoir (+13 ha) and Diolinoir (+11
ha), plus Petite Arvine (+7 ha) and
Savagnin blanc/Heida (+12 ha).
Arvinis is one of Switzerland’s main annual wine events, with 18,000 visitor expected to sample some 2,000 wines from 16-21 April 2008. GenevaLunch will be publishing a series of articles on Swiss wine during the event.
Ed. note: wine is measured in hectolitres, one of which equals 100 litres.
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