A Swiss cross that became the country's fourth red grape
Pick a Gamaret for roast or braised meat: this purple Swiss red smells of spice and black fruit and has powerful tannins. Bred in Pully, near Lausanne, in 1970, it grows mainly in the cantons of Vaud, Geneva and Valais, often in blends. On Helvitic you will buy it straight from the winery.
Orders are not open yet: online payment is still in its test phase. Once it opens, each winery sells its own bottles.
Swiss Wine Promotion, the body that promotes Swiss wine, describes a purple colour, spicy aromas and powerful tannins. Swiss Wine Valais, the trade body for Valais wines, adds a very deep-coloured, dense, full-bodied wine with black fruit aromas.
Its tannins, the compounds from the grape skins that slightly dry the mouth, have a slightly grainy texture. Made on its own, Gamaret is usually aged in barrique, meaning a small oak barrel, before bottling.
It was born in 1970 in Pully, at Agroscope, the Swiss federal agricultural research centre. Breeders crossed Gamay with Reichensteiner, a white German grape, to get a Gamay-like red that was more resistant and deeper in colour, according to Swiss Wine Promotion.
Its breeder, André Jaquinet, first knew it as number B 13. Named and released in 1990, Gamaret has two siblings from the same cross, Garanoir and Mara. It has since spread to the Aosta Valley in Italy (1999) and to Beaujolais in France (2008).
According to the Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG), it is Switzerland's fourth red grape. More than eight in ten hectares are in Vaud, Geneva and the Valais. The charts on this page show the area by canton.
Agroscope first meant it to add colour to blends. It works well with Pinot Noir, Gamay and its sibling Garanoir. Swiss Wine Valais notes that it also shines on its own.
Only partly. Agroscope chose it for the quality of its wines and its resistance to grey rot, a mould that attacks ripe grapes in damp weather. It does not resist downy and powdery mildew, so it is not a PIWI grape in today's sense, PIWI being short for the German pilzwiderstandsfähig, ‘fungus-resistant’.
That breeding work only began in 1996, according to Agroscope. It produced Divico in 2013, and Gamaret is one of Divico's two parents.
Serve it with grilled, roast or braised meat, as Swiss Wine Promotion suggests. Its powerful tannins need the texture and juices of meat; a delicate dish would be overwhelmed. For dessert, try dark chocolate or red berries.
Its deep-coloured, structured wines can age for a while in the cellar.
Gamaret: official 2025 figures
Yes. Agroscope bred it in 1970 in Pully, in the canton of Vaud, by crossing Gamay and Reichensteiner.
They are siblings from the same cross. According to Swiss Wine Promotion, Garanoir is fruitier, less concentrated and less spicy; Gamaret is deeper in colour and more tannic. The two are often blended.
Yes, a little. Swiss Wine Promotion says it has been planted in the Aosta Valley since 1999 and in Beaujolais since 2008.
0 bottles
Your cart is empty