Domaine de la Rochette perches above the three lakes of Neuchâtel, Biel, and Murten between the Swiss Alps and the Jura Mountains. The vineyards soak the southeastern slopes of the foothills of the Alps and the wines seem to absorb both the soaring heights of the nearby mountains as well as the cool depths of the alpine lakes below. Neuchâtel was historically part of the Kingdom of Burgundy and the lineage can be felt. The vineyards’ terroirs are very similar to Chambolle-Musigny, a thin layer of soil over a deep bedrock of Jurassic limestone. Few know of this hidden mirror to Burgundy outside of Switzerland, and the Swiss would be happy to keep it that way.

Domaine de la Rochette is run by the wine genius Jacques Tatasciore. The details of his winemaking are closely guarded secrets and the amounts of wine produced each year are miniscule. These are the finest pinot noirs in Switzerland and some of the most sought after in the world. The vines are an average of 50-year-old massale selection from pinot noir vines of the region stretching back centuries. The domaine encompasses 6 hectares in total. Jacques farms it entirely biodynamically since the beginning but he hasn’t sought certification, seeing the certificate as an unnecessary proof of what is already self-evident in the wines themselves. It is not known precisely, but the educated guess is that his wines are whole-cluster indigenous fermentations aged in French oak barrels. As well as being just generally some of the rarest wines to source in the world.