Cooking with Swiss wine: tips, tricks and perfect matches

From the fresh Fendant from the Valais to the spicy Pinot Noir from Eastern Switzerland, Swiss wines offer incredible diversity. Not only can they be enjoyed on their own, but they also add an exceptional touch to cuisine. Wine is a real flavour enhancer, intensifying the aromas of a dish.

When cooking with wine, most of the alcohol evaporates, leaving only the subtle aromas. This makes it a versatile ingredient, perfect for sauces, marinades, risottos or desserts.

However, cooking with wine requires a few precautions. Here's everything you need to know.

1. Quality counts: Only use wines that you would enjoy drinking. A poor quality wine can ruin a dish, whereas a good wine will sublimate its aromas. And it's all the more enjoyable to drink a glass of wine while you're cooking!

2. Choosing the right wine: The wine should match the dish. A light, dry white wine is perfect for fish dishes, while a full-bodied red wine is ideal with meat. As a general rule: red wine enhances dark sauces, and white wine light sauces.

3. Respect the dosage: Less is often more. Too much wine can overpower the flavour and unbalance a dish. For example, for dishes with rich sauces, allow around 2-2.5 dl of wine for four people. To deglaze a dish, such as a Zürcher schnitzel, 1 dl of wine for four portions is enough.

4. Add the wine at the right time: Add the wine early enough for the alcohol to have time to evaporate (from 78°C) and for its aromas to blend with the other ingredients. Red wine should be reduced by half, and white wine by even more.

White wines

• Chasselas: Chasselas is a light white wine with a fine minerality. It goes perfectly with fish dishes, shellfish or, of course, more classically, cheese fondue.

• Müller-Thurgau: this aromatic, refreshing white wine is particularly well-suited to vegetable-based dishes, such as risotto with sautéed courgettes or asparagus.

Red wines

• Pinot noir: the versatile pinot noir from regions such as eastern Switzerland is the perfect choice for simmered dishes such as beef goulash or coq au vin. Its elegant berry aromas and balanced structure also go very well with game.

• Gamay: This red wine from the Lake Geneva region is seductive for its fruitiness and light spiciness. Ideal for poultry, such as duck or turkey, it also goes very well with Mediterranean dishes.

Sweet wines

• Amigne or Malvoisie: these noble wines from the Valais are the ideal choice for desserts. They can be used to poach or macerate fruit, make a wine cream or add a special touch to a crème brûlée.

A common question is whether dishes cooked with wine still contain alcohol after cooking. In reality, most of the alcohol evaporates, but not all of it. The amount left depends on the cooking time, temperature and method used.

If the cooking time is around 30 minutes, about a third of the alcohol remains, whereas if the cooking time is longer, two hours or more, the alcohol evaporates almost completely.

For children and pregnant women, a small amount of cooked wine in food is harmless. On the other hand, if the alcohol is heated only briefly or not at all, caution is called for. To be on the safe side, wine can be replaced by alcohol-free alternatives such as grape juice, cider vinegar or special alcohol-free wines.