A Treasure Trove of Age-Worthy Swiss Fine Wines - La Mémoire des Vins Suisses at 67 Pall Mall

La Mémoire des Vins Suisses is a unique association of select producers and experts in Switzerland that has been building a bank of the country’s finest wines since 2002. Its vault now holds over 30,000 bottles of regularly critiqued library vintages representing all the leading grape varieties and regions.

To celebrate the accreditation of 67 Pall Mall Verbier as an official restaurant of La Mémoire the Swiss wine ambassadors at 67 Pall Mall - Jean-Francois Genoud and Simon Hardy DipWSET – organised two special tasting events at the Club in London in April and May. These coincided with the streaming on 67 Pall Mall TV of a half-hour documentary about La Mémoire, written and presented by the two ambassadors. 

The wines tasted

The pair of tasting events was a truly exceptional opportunity - and a first outside Switzerland - to sample a selection of the age-worthy wines selected by La Mémoire. In most cases each wine was shown in pairs, one older and one younger vintage.

The well-attended events were both hosted by Simon Hardy who presented a total of 18 wines. In April he was joined by Fred Hoffmann, whose family own Domaine de la Pierre Latine in Vaud:

• Domaine de la Pierre Latine - Clos du Crosex Grillé Aigle Grand Cru 2016 & 2019

• Domaine des Muses - Humagne Blanche Tradition 2016 & 2019

• Les Frères Dutruy - Gamay Grande Réserve Les Romaines 2012 & 2019

• Weingut Donatsch - Pinot Noir Passion 2018 (a Mémoire producer but not a Mémoire wine)

• Gialdi Vini - Sassi Grossi 2015 & 2019

In May Simon was joined by Gilles Besse, co-owner of Domaine Jean-René Germanier in Valais:

• Blaise Duboux - Calamin Grand Cru Cuvée Vincent 2020

• Domaine La Colombe - Brez Grand Cru 2012 & 2020

• Domaine JR Germanier  - Amigne de Vétroz Grand Cru 1 abeille 2020

• Weingut Donatsch - Completer Malanserrebe 2016 & 2020

• Schlossgut Bachtobel - Pinot Noir #3 2019

• Domaine JR Germanier  Cayas Réserve Syrah du Valais 2014 & 201

About la Memoire des Vins Suisses (MDVS)

La Mémoire des Vins Suisses – a group of 57 leading producers – was established to spread the message, with one of its main tenets being to showcase how ageworthy the country’s wines can be, and to this end it has an ever-increasing cache of regularly critiqued library vintages.  

67 Pall Mall’s Swiss wine ambassadors Jean-François Genoud and Simon Hardy introduce us to some of the collective’s key protagonists, including co-founder Andreas Keller: ‘Any fashionable wines or crazy blends are not likely to find their way into the Mémoire,’ he says. That’s because they are not representative of Switzerland nor the winemaker.