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Swiss winegrowers battle against Asian fruit fly

An invasion of Asian fruit flies is likely to slightly diminish the size of grape harvests in Switzerland this month in what is otherwise a good year for Swiss winegrowers.

Published: 2 October 2014 11:45 CEST

Swiss winegrowers battle against Asian fruit fly

The harvest starts in earnest this week. Photo: Caroline Bishop

Speaking to news agency ATS, Gilles Cornut of the Vaud federation of winegrowers said that the abundance of Suzukii flies throughout Switzerland at the end of August gave vineyard owners “cold sweats” and resulted in grape losses of two to four percent.

The damage is limited, however, due to the cold nights during September which killed off some of the flies.

Vaud winegrowers – whose harvests start in earnest this week – are also using a biological substance containing kaoline to fight the bug, which Cornut stressed would have no impact on the quality of the grape.

The presence of the fly significantly increases the workload for winegrowers, who must react quickly to harvest or treat unaffected grapes.

“We’ve had a real invasion,” commented Markus Leumann, head of a Swiss-German working group tackling the problem, to ATS.

Winegrowers in ten Swiss-German cantons have, for the first time, resorted to insecticides to combat the fly, the only method considered effective enough.

Nevertheless Switzerland can expect a good harvest this year following an autumn of warm, sunny weather, said Cornut.

The last three weeks of September were decisive, with hot days and cold nights helping to develop flavour in the grapes.

Conditions in June, when the vines were starting to bud, were also ideal.

This year’s positive news will be a relief to wine fans, after last year’s bad weather resulted in the worst harvest since 1980.

Just under 84 million litres of wine were produced in Switzerland in 2013, a 16.5 percent decrease on 2012.

Most of Switzerland’s wine is produced in the cantons of Geneva, Valais, Vaud, Neuchâtel and Ticino, with a minority of vineyards in Swiss-German cantons.

Swiss wine is mostly consumed domestically, with only around one percent exported.

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What is Switzerland's 'one franc vineyards' scheme - and is it legit?

Earlier in Spring, news broke of a new scheme where Swiss vineyards were available for just one franc.

As with similar stories offering one franc plots of land or houses, the news spread far and wide – which of course was the point – while some eventually became disappointed.

READ MORE: Gambarogno: The latest Swiss village to sell houses for one franc

While it’s likely to cost you a good deal more than one franc, if owning a Swiss vineyard (or at least part of it) is on your bucket list, you now have an opportunity to do so.

Why are Swiss vineyards going cheap?

With nearly 5,000 hectares of vineyards and 60 different grape varieties, Valais is Switzerland’s largest wine-growing region.

Unfortunately, 20 percent of the canton’s vines are abandoned and municipalities must uproot them because they can’t find people willing to cultivate them.

A case in point is the community of Savièse, nestled in a picturesque Alpine valley. About 120 plots — four to five hectares — of its vineyards were abandoned by their owners and therefore not harvested last year, as the commune can’t find people to do the work.

This is a serious case of neglect because “when a vine is not pruned, there is a period of one year to uproot it. Otherwise, there is a risk of spreading disease”, according to Savièse’s mayor, Sylvain Dumoulin.

“There are some vines where we need to do this now, and I fear the number will increase in the future”, he added.

How much does a plot cost?

In order to protect its winemaking traditions in general and abandoned plots in particular, the municipality has launched a new vines-saving project which includes a “stock exchange” of sorts for the sale and purchase of abandoned parcels.

READ MORE: EXPLAINED: How to drink wine like a Swiss

Dumoulin didn’t reveal the cost of a plot of vineyard, as it depends on its location, condition and other factors.

Unfortunately, while you may have seen articles reporting that parcels are being sold for “a symbolic one franc”, this is more than likely a marketing ploy to attract attention than a realistic price.

Savièse’s vineyards. Screenshot, Savièse.ch

“The main long-term objective is to encourage the grouping of plots and thus the rationalisation of the exploitation of these parcels”, Dumoulin told The Local.

He added that currently the project is “exclusively accessible for people who already own vineyards. But from July it will be open to anyone with an interest in purchasing vineyard areas”.

From then on, “anyone can download the application to find plots of vines for sale and to make their owner a price proposal”.

The app, called “Vignoble Savièse” can be purchased in Apple or Google stores.

One example of such a gimmick was the Ticino town of Gambarogno, located on the shores of Lake Maggiore, which offered houses for one franc.

‘Impossible’: Why Switzerland’s one franc homes are too good to be true

As The Local reported, “the news – along with pictures of the Ticino countryside and the lake itself – spread across the globe, with people inside and outside of Switzerland letting themselves dream”.

However, the “rustic houses with the view of the lake” turned out to be nothing more than ruins, with no roofs, windows, electricity or running water, situated in remote locations — about an hour’s walk from the nearest village.

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