Chasselas/Gutadel/Fendant

Chasselas is Switzerland's signature white grape, called Fendant in the Valais and Gutedel across the border in Baden. It is a quiet, transparent variety: low in aroma and modest in acidity, so it acts as a mirror for site and for the lees it rests on. On the steep terraces of Lavaux and Chablais, Chasselas gives delicate wines of white flowers, pear, almond and a saline, chalky finish, often with a faint spritz. It is traditionally drunk young with fondue and raclette, but the best growers' wines age gracefully into honeyed, toasty complexity. In France it appears in Savoie (Crépy) and Pouilly-sur-Loire.