Grape Guide
Räuschling
WhiteRäuschling is a rare white variety from the upper Rhine that survives almost entirely around Lake Zurich in German-speaking Switzerland, on roughly 30 hectares. It is a natural cross of Gouais Blanc and Savagnin, and it makes light, firmly acidic, lemony wines that take on a Riesling-like profile with bottle age.
Key characteristics
- Natural cross of Gouais Blanc and Savagnin; full sibling of Petit Meslier and Aubin Blanc
- Vigorous and productive, especially when pruned long
- Prone to coulure, millerandage, berry splitting and Botrytis bunch rot
- Compact bunches; buds at a medium date and ripens somewhere between early and the middle of the season
- Red colour mutation (Räuschling Rot) rediscovered in a Swiss collection
Typical flavors
Major regions
Lake Zurich (Zürichsee), Switzerland · Canton Zürich, Switzerland · Canton St. Gallen, Switzerland · Canton Schwyz, Switzerland · Canton Schaffhausen, Switzerland · Three Lakes region, Switzerland
Also known as
Zürirebe (northern Switzerland) · Züriwiss (northern Switzerland) · Drutsch or Drutscht or Dretsch (Rheinland-Pfalz) · Klöpfer (Rheinland-Pfalz) · Offenburger (Rheinland-Pfalz) · Großer Räuschling (Alsace) · Ruchelin (France) · Weisser Räuschling · Räuschling Weiss · Reuschling
Räuschling is a white variety that was once grown across the upper Rhine and now lives on in German-speaking Switzerland, above all on the shores of Lake Zurich. It is a natural cross of Gouais Blanc and Savagnin, and it carries the firm acidity typical of that lineage. The wines are usually light to medium in body, with lemon, grapefruit and green herb notes, a faintly salty or bitter mineral edge and a crisp, dry finish.
In the vineyard it is vigorous and productive, with a tendency to coulure, millerandage and bunch rot, so it rewards growers who control yield and choose clones with care. Examples from old vines and good exposures age well in bottle, and with time they are often said to move toward the profile of mature Riesling. Plantings are small, around 30 hectares nationally, but the variety is promoted in Zurich as a regional specialty and a historic native white.
Räuschling is an old variety of the upper Rhine. Its earliest record uses the synonym Drutsch, in a herbal printed in 1546 that places it near Landau in the Palatinate. In 1614 the Hohenlohe-Langenburg court in Franconia sent a letter requesting that Gouais Blanc vines be replaced with better varieties; Reuschling and Elbling were named among those to go. The first use of the modern spelling comes from Schaffhausen in 1759, together with the synonym Zürirebe ("vine of Zurich"). The name may derive from the German verb rauschen, to rustle, a reference to wind moving through its dense foliage, though another derivation has been suggested.
A preliminary DNA analysis first hinted at the parentage, and a larger marker set later confirmed it: Räuschling is a natural cross of Gouais Blanc and Savagnin. In northern France, Aubin Blanc and Petit Meslier share the same two parents, so they are its full siblings. That Savagnin connection explains why it was sometimes mistakenly called Grosser Traminer, and also the Alsace name Grosser Räuschling, which set it apart from Knipperlé, another Gouais Blanc offspring, called Kleiner Räuschling. Completer also carries the synonym Zürirebe but is a distinct variety.
Older literature describes a red form, Räuschling Rot, which was believed lost until a Swiss grape collection turned up a vine with an identical DNA profile, proving it to be a colour mutation. Zurich viticulture was almost entirely white until about 1930, and Räuschling held the leading position alongside Elbling. Its fortunes then fell steeply; it almost disappeared from Germany and Alsace, and now survives chiefly in northern Switzerland.
Räuschling buds in mid season and ripens early to mid season. It is vigorous and productive, especially when pruned long, so yield control matters. Flowering is vulnerable to coulure and millerandage, which makes crops uneven. Bunches are compact, and the berries tend to split near harvest, opening the way to Botrytis bunch rot; clones differ clearly in how readily they suffer from it. An Agroscope trial at Stäfa on Lake Zurich from 2015 to 2021 compared 15 clones and found large differences in yield and rot sensitivity but little in must quality. Clone 42 is the long-standing standard, clones 3 and 25 are available, and clone 28 and a red selection were still in approval at the time of the study. Mixed clonal plantings are suggested to spread risk.
Räuschling is made almost entirely as a dry still white. The standard style is light to medium bodied, with lemon and grapefruit, sometimes mandarin or gooseberry, a green herbal note, and a high, refreshing acidity. A slightly bitter or salty mineral edge is often noted. The wines suit lake fish, shellfish and quiche. A more serious tier comes from old vines and favored sites, where wines may be kept on fine lees, sometimes in large oak casks, and may skip malolactic fermentation to preserve acidity. These bottlings are built for ageing and, according to Swiss producers and promoters, grow increasingly like Riesling with time. The wines are usually labeled with the variety name under a regional appellation such as Zürich or Zürichsee.
Where it grows
Lake Zurich (Zürichsee)
The center of production and of quality, with vineyards on the lakeshore slopes around Meilen and Stäfa. Schwarzenbach in Meilen, with its Seehalden bottling, and Erich Meier of Uetikon am See are among the best known producers, alongside the cantonal cellar Staatskellerei Zürich and Rütihof.
Canton Zürich, beyond the lake
The canton holds most of the Swiss plantings, which total roughly 30 hectares, up from 23 hectares recorded in 2009.
Eastern Switzerland
Small plantings also exist in the cantons of St. Gallen, Schwyz and Schaffhausen, where the modern spelling was first recorded in 1759. German-speaking Switzerland accounts for about 96 percent of national plantings.
Three Lakes region
The lake district around Neuchâtel, Biel and Murten holds the remaining 4 percent or so of Swiss Räuschling.
Germany and Alsace
The variety's original homeland has almost lost it. It was once found in the Palatinate, Franconia, Württemberg and Baden, and it appears on the 1929 German list of recommended varieties, but no registered clone exists in Germany today.