Unfiltered wine, a wine specialty of Neuchâtel, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Created by chance in 1975, this wine has established itself, today representing 15% of the Chasselas produced in the canton.
“First wine of the year, it also helps bring back customers a little after the holidays when sometimes we still see that there are fewer and fewer customers. For me, unfiltered is is really an important product”, indicates Charlène Comtesse, oenologist in Saint-Blaise, in the 12:45 p.m. of RTS on Thursday.
Production of this young wine increased from 100,000 liters in the year 2000 to 150,000 liters in 2023. The German-speaking market now represents a quarter of sales and producers hope to further expand their clientele.
Unfiltered is still far from rivaling the global success of Beaujolais Nouveau, but it is also starting to be exported in small quantities to the United States, Germany and Japan.
Beverage born by chance
According to Arcinfo, this troubled Chasselas was born somewhat by chance in 1975 shortly before Christmas. Running out of wine to sell, Auvernier winemaker Henri-Alexandre Godet decided to draw Chasselas from the last harvest directly from the vat – therefore not yet filtered – to serve it to a few impatient customers.
Since 1995, unfiltered wine has been presented to the public on the third Wednesday of January. A date set by a decree from the Council of State in order to prevent producers from scrambling to release their wine before the others.
The public was able to discover the 2024 vintage freshly bottled on Wednesday January 15 at the Anciens Abattoirs in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
>> Also listen to the 12:30 p.m. topic:
Subject TV: Stéphane Deleury
Adaptation web: cab
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