Grand Prix du Vin Suisse 2026 crowns Domaine Claudy Clavien
A six-hectare family estate in Miège is Swiss winery of the year after wins in Syrah and white blends, while Valais takes ten of the sixteen categories in Bern.
Domaine Claudy Clavien, a family estate in Miège above Sierre, was named Swiss winery of the year at the Grand Prix du Vin Suisse 2026 on 23 October in Bern. It won two of the sixteen categories, Syrah and white blends, at the 20th edition of the country's largest wine competition.
The trophy was handed out at the Kursaal Bern in front of more than 600 guests, according to the Walliser Zeitung. Clavien's Encre de la Terre Les Coteaux de Sierre 2024 topped the Syrah category and its Eclats d'âme Les Coteaux de Sierre 2025 won the white blends. A Gamay 2025 also reached the podium in its group.
Claudy Clavien founded the estate in 1986 and now farms about six hectares on the slopes of Sierre and Miège, up from the two hectares his parents worked, according to Sierre Tourisme and the Hachette wine guide. He runs it today with his daughter Shadia, who used her moment on stage to thank her parents for bringing the family business to this level, Le Nouvelliste reported.
A six-hectare estate in Miège beat the country's larger cellars on consistency, not volume.
Valais dominates the Grand Prix du Vin Suisse
Valais as a whole won ten of the sixteen categories and filled five podiums entirely with its own producers, Le Nouvelliste counted. Fernand Cina in Salgesch took two categories, with its Cornalin 2025 and the red blend Cuvée Prestige 2023, which also took the red Prix Vinissimo Coup de Coeur. Adrian and Diego Mathier, also from Salgesch, kept the title of Swiss winery of the decade for 2017-2026, a distinction they first received in 2016.
Outside Valais, Ticino's Tenuta Roberto e Andrea Ferrari won Merlot with Bella Cima 2021. The new Petite Arvine and Savagnin Blanc category drew more than 200 entries and went to Cave Antoine et Christophe Bétrisey of Saint-Léonard for its Heida d'Ami 2025.
How the 2026 competition was judged
The Grand Prix du Vin Suisse is run by VINEA in Sierre and the magazine VINUM. This year 2,844 wines from 19 cantons were entered, 1,202 of them from Valais, and tasted in Sierre from 20 to 25 July by around 150 tasters on an OIV-based scoring sheet. They awarded 425 gold and 455 silver medals before a final round.
The winery of the year title is calculated from a producer's results across categories rather than from a single bottle, which is how a six-hectare estate can beat far larger cellars. GaultMillau follows the same scene, as its recent ranking of the top 150 Swiss winemakers showed. For Valais, it is the second year running that the Grand Prix du Vin Suisse title stays in the canton, after Cave La Romaine of Flanthey won it in 2025.
