We arrived at Alain Gerber, and right at the entrance, a motto written on a blackboard set the tone:
“We drink to forget, but we taste to remember!”
A promising start!
For 50 years, the famous triple “A”s, Albert, André, and Alain Gerber, have been running the winery. Alain represents the third generation of winemakers, raised by a father who defined dedication. Mathilde, his daughter, will carry the torch next, making the future not just bright, but… AAAMazing.
The family cellar sits above the village of Hauterive. In 2011, it expanded, but not at the expense of history. The new cave was buried underground to preserve the 18th-century building above it, a quiet guardian of the past that still dominates the view. From this base, they cultivate 10 hectares of vineyards spread across six neighboring communes: Colombier, Hauterive, St-Blaise, Cornaux, Cressier, and La Neuveville.
Julien, head of the cellar, welcomed us with the kind of vintage optimism professionals don’t fake:
“It was a wonderful summer. If the rain slows now, we’re looking at an exceptional year.”
The harvest was scheduled between the 10th and 15th of September and can last 2 weeks. The work intense, around two weeks total, with ten days of effective cutting. All by hand. No machines, no shortcuts. Just people moving through rows of limestone-laced soil, collecting grapes cluster by cluster.
We start the tasting! Neuchâtel’s legendary Non-Filtered Chasselas, bottled straight after fermentation in January, intentionally left unfiltered, slightly cloudy, and gloriously alive. The palate bursts with lemon, peach, and white floral lift. This is why locals call it the first wine of the year, made to be drunk immediately, crisp and vivid. The labels are even printed upside down, a playful but genius solution to encourage movement inside the bottle, helping mix the natural haze before serving.
With Chasselas, he says, that softness matters. It’s a low-pH grape with naturally high acidity, which is exactly why the family always runs it through full malolactic fermentation. Without it, the wine can feel too sharp, too tense—too linear. This grape wants poise, not tension.
With the red wines, the philosophy shifts from grace to guardianship. Pinot Noir is naturally delicate, lower in tannins and color compounds than many red varieties. If the pH goes too high during vinification, freshness drops, stability weakens, and definition blurs. Keeping it controlled isn’t just technical, it’s existential. Pinot must remain elegant, structured, and microbially safe. In other words: protected.
We poured the Cru de Champréveyres, Neuchâtel AOC, a true delight and Julien’s benchmark moment: “For me, Chasselas is exactly this,”. This is a true single-parcel wine, a plot where Chasselas finds its ideal voice: round rather than razor-sharp, lightly aged on lees, but above all driven by terroir, limestone-bright soils, perfect exposure, and deep roots that dig for minerals, not attention. The result speaks with restraint and carries with precision: long, distinguished, quietly electric, the citrus aromas leaning toward clementine with a cool mentholated lift, as if the Alps whispered through a tangerine peel.
Climatic hazards keep hitting. Last year (2024), the vineyards were struck by frost and some hail, causing heavy losses—up to 40%. In Saint-Blaise, some wineries lost up to 90%.
So I push the question: which wine pays the bills? Or in Switzerland, does everything simply sell itself? Julien doesn’t hesitate: “Pinot Noir carries the economy in Neuchâtel. This is Chasselas country, yes, but just as much Pinot Noir land.”
When I asked if that was the reason he came here, he laughed:
“No, it was for a woman… but I make time for wine too.” Laughter followed. The tasting continued.
“This year was sunny and ripe. That makes reds easier to drink, but also more dangerous. More sun means higher pH, and higher pH means more potential problems. There’s a real risk of jammy flavors if we don’t handle ageing carefully.”
In Switzerland, adding sugar before or during fermentation (chaptalisation) to raise potential alcohol is legal, but strictly regulated. In cooler or less sunny years, Chasselas and Pinot sometimes need a little lift. Chaptalisation (sugar correction) this year won’t be necessary. Rain has already balanced the concentration naturally.
We tasted the still Pinot Gris, a more full-bodied, round white example. “This year we will also make a sweet dessert wine using grape drying in small crates with Pinot Gris.”
Papa Gerber (André) arrived a few minutes before and added to the conversation:
“It’s all about the vineyard exposure, and higher up, the roots stop because they hit the stone.”
In mountain vineyards, vine roots don’t always go deeper, it depends on the soil. Where there’s depth and porosity, roots can reach several meters, but in shallow, stony sites over hard limestone, like in Neuchâtel, they often stop or divert when they hit the rock, spreading instead into cracks and fissures.
The Collegiate Church, built in the 12th–13th centuries on the Castle Hill, with the famous pierre d’Hauterive (yellow limestone)
Neuchâtel’s yellow limestone (pierre d’Hauterive) also combined with other materials.
The iconic stone of Neuchâtel is Pierre d’Hauterive, also known as Neuchâtel’s yellow limestone: a marine, sedimentary limestone with an ochre-yellow hue, the same that built the old town and gave its walls their warm golden tone, and the same we recognize today in the glass. It is also studied by geologists as part of the region’s natural and cultural heritage.
Now we taste Alain Gerber’s Neuchâtel AOC Chardonnay Expression. Aged in barrel for one year, oak integrated smoothly. Julien added that “not everyone can make a barrel-fermented Chardonnay with tension in a Burgundian style“, which I totally agree.
For Chardonnay in Burgundy, the classic techniques (many also used in Neuchâtel) include:
• Barrel fermentation and ageing (228 L barrels in Burgundy)
• Lees stirring to build texture and complexity (batonnage).
• Malolactic fermentation, typically applied.
• Controlled oxygen exposure through the barrel.
• Harvesting when sugar and acidity are balanced, avoiding over-ripeness.
Barrel selection is key for a great Chardonnay. The goal is to expand production to 10 barrels this year, supported by minimal disease pressure. Lees ageing only works when the base wine is clean and healthy, without that foundation, the risk of faults increases
And then, as we were tasting the creamy crunchiness for the Chardonnay, and as the tasting felt complete, the twist arrived: the father owns a distillery.
Papa Gerber isn’t just a winemaker. He’s also a distiller in Cornaux, proudly defending Neuchâtel’s other liquid tradition, handmade fruit and root spirits distilled with artisan precision. Whether it’s plum, pear, the small local red-violet bérudge plum, or bitter alpine gentian root, his mission is the same: bottling terroir in another form.
Gentians are mountain flowers (Gentiana), known for their vivid blue and purple blooms across the Alps, the Pyrenees, and other high peaks. Gentians distillates are typically made from fermented and distilled roots and rhizomes.
When André talks distillation, his face lights up, not like a businessman launching a product, but like a craftsman unveiling a secret. We had to get a bottle!
So we raise a glass back to them now:
A million thanks for your time, conviction, and wisdom, Gerber family, Julien and your passionate team! And thank you Eric for the discovery!
We’ll be back and hope to meet the rest of the family soon.
