Étoile dorée Golden Star of Switzerland Coop

Rugged mountain beauty with white snowcaps. Vineyard terraces pressed close against the rock. In the valley, the Rhône flows majestically. The canton of Valais, in the south of Switzerland, lies entirely in the Alps. Around 600 winegrowers cultivate some 5,000 hectares of vines – a third of Switzerland’s vineyard area. Below the village of Visperterminen lies Europe’s highest vineyard – short terraces winding from 650 to 1,150 metres above sea level. Everyone in Switzerland knows Coop; almost 2,500 outlets and markets belong to the Coop Group. More than 90,000 employees generated a total turnover of CHF 30.2 billion in 2020. Coop is deeply rooted in Switzerland and looks back on more than 150 years of history. Coop’s own winery has existed since 1907 and is based in the Coop production centre built in 2017 in Pratteln Salina Raurica. The wine cellar – with a capacity of 7.5 million litres and an annual filling output of 40 million wine bottles – is the largest winery in Switzerland. Wines from around the world are tended, refined and bottled here. Alongside the vinification of wines from seven Swiss cantons, the range of services also includes sparkling-wine production.

Pinot Noir is known worldwide and, at almost 30 per cent, is also the most widely planted grape variety in the Valais. But do you also know Gamay, Chasselas or Petite Arvine? Locals are proud of the specialities of AOC Valais or Wallis (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée / Protected Designation of Origin). In 2019 Coop launched the first wine under the private label “Étoile dorée”, which means “Golden Star”. 13 stars adorn the Valais coat of arms, originally in white and red. The label was designed by Bravo Design in South Africa. “Coop was looking for a new agency. Brenden Schwartz, founder and Creative Director of the Cape Town agency Bravo Design, visited us at the Kaiserstuhl at the same time. The collaboration fitted, and the first design hit the mark immediately.” A label for the wine “Heida”. “Heida” is not a grape variety, but a registered and protected wine name for Valais wines from the grape variety Savagnin Blanc. French-speaking Valaisans call it Païen, which in German is “der Heide”. This is not meant in a religious sense; in the Upper Valais dialect it simply means “very old”. The grape variety has been documented in the Valais since 1586 and belongs to the Traminer family. This highly aromatic variety produces appealing, lively wines with citrus and exotic notes.

And because successful projects have a future, two further wines joined “Heida”. A wine from the grape variety “Petite Arvine” at the beginning of 2020, and later in the year “Humagne Rouge”. Plantings of “Petite Arvine” continue to rise in Switzerland. It has exotic notes – grapefruit, pineapple and passion fruit – floral accents and a fantastic salinity. “The label was adapted in colour: a snow-covered white mountain and a blue evening sky with stars. Remarkable what can be drawn from an original label. An entirely different mood emerges.” The “Petite Arvine” naturally joined the Spring Trophy. It was followed by the “Humagne Rouge” for the autumn Trophy. The red wine has a clear, cool bouquet of ripe forest berries, fine spice and violet. “The mountain is deep black again, but the evening sky glows red. For the first time the star received prismatic sculpted embossing and hot foil stamping as an eyecatcher.” A further wine is planned for spring 2021.