Grape Guide
Completer
WhiteCompleter is a rare white variety from Malans, in the Bündner Herrschaft of Graubünden in eastern Switzerland, with its first record dating to 1321. It yields dry, full-bodied wines with very high natural acidity, notes of quince, ripe apple and honey, and real capacity to age, in styles from lightly oxidative to oak-fermented.
Key Characteristics
- First documented in Malans, Graubünden, in 1321
- Parent of Lafnetscha (with Humagne Blanche) and of Bondoletta and Hitzkircher (with Bondola)
- Mid budding and mid to late ripening
- Best on light soils in sites freshened by wind
- Planted on only a handful of hectares in Switzerland
Typical Flavors
Major Regions
Graubünden (Bündner Herrschaft, Malans) · Upper Valais (Visp area) · Canton Zürich · Ticino (in blends)
Also Known As
Malanstraube (Graubünden) · Malanserrebe (Graubünden) · Lindauer (formerly Schaffhausen · Thurgau · Zürich) · Zürirebe (Zürichsee) · Zürichseer (Zürichsee) · Grosse Lafnetscha (Upper Valais)
Overview
Completer is one of Switzerland's oldest documented white varieties and one of its scarcest. It is tied to Malans, a village in the Bündner Herrschaft north of Chur, and most of the wine is made within a short drive of it. The wines are dry, full in body and powerful, with very high natural acidity set against flavours of quince, ripe apple, plum and honey. They take on a deeper honeyed register with bottle age and often carry a gently oxidative edge. Alcohol is typically high, which owes as much to the warm Föhn wind that dries and concentrates the grapes in autumn as to the variety itself. Completer also matters well beyond its tiny vineyard area as a parent of Lafnetscha, Bondoletta and Hitzkircher. Output is minute: at Donatsch, the best-known estate, production runs to only a few hundred to a couple of thousand bottles a year, so most bottles are sold within Switzerland.
Origins & History
Completer first turns up in the written record in 1321, when a charter issued by the cathedral chapter of Chur mentioned wine of the completorium made from vines at Malans. The name derives from the completorium, the final monastic office of the day; once it was finished, Benedictine monks were permitted a drink of wine, so long as they took it quietly and without conversation. A supposed reference from around 926 has been ruled out by historical research. The variety's parentage is unknown, and the parent varieties have probably died out. Historical evidence points to the Benedictines of Pfäfers Abbey, who held land at Malans as well as in Italy, as the ones who carried the variety northward. DNA analysis shows close genetic ties to Marzemino and to Pignolo Spano, a variety that is no longer grown. The monks may have brought it in twice, once to Graubünden and once to Upper Valais, where old vines are still grown on Italian-style pergolas. For many years Completer was mistaken for Lafnetscha of Upper Valais. DNA profiling instead showed Lafnetscha to be a cross of Completer and Humagne Blanche, a surprising result given that no record of Completer existed for the Valais. A later search near Visp turned up old Completer vines growing under the name Grosse Lafnetscha. Completer was also crossed with Ticino's Bondola on two further occasions, giving Hitzkircher in canton Luzern and Bondoletta in Ticino. The variety came close to disappearing during the twentieth century, and growers began replanting it at Malans in the 1990s.
Viticultural Characteristics
Completer buds at mid season and ripens mid to late, so it needs a long, dry autumn; in the Bündner Herrschaft the Föhn supplies warmth and low humidity at harvest. Yields are medium to high and regular. The variety does best on light soils in sites that are freshened by wind, where acidity stays high while sugar builds. Late maturity and high acidity make site choice decisive, and the steep Completerhalde slope in Malans is the hillside most closely associated with it. Old plantings in Upper Valais, by contrast, sit on traditional pergola systems rather than modern wire training.
Wine Styles & Characteristics
The traditional wine was high in acidity and in alcohol, aged for a long time in barrel in a manner comparable to sherry, and often finished with a pronounced oxidative character. Producers such as Schloss Reichenau and the Completer-Kellerei still make slightly oxidative, traditional versions. A newer approach, used by Donatsch and Thomas Studach among others, ferments and matures the wine in small new oak barrels, giving a more polished, textured dry white. Typical aromas are quince, ripe apple, plum and honey, with a powerful but supple palate and a long, acid-driven finish. Bottle age brings more honey and nut. In Ticino, a few Merlot producers have used small amounts in white blends. The high acidity suits delicate fish such as turbot and sole, and shellfish such as langoustine and scallop.