St. Moritz: Engadin Wine & Champagne
In 1864, hotelier Johannes Badrutt bet his British summer guests they'd love St. Moritz in winter.
Best time winter
Chapter 2 of Alpine Grand Journey · Switzerland
The stops
- Tasting · Price: very high Badrutt's Palace - 30,000 Bottles & The 1864 Bet One of the world's 10 greatest wine cellars — 30,000 bottles beneath the hotel that invented winter tourism. Krug Ambassade status. Dine in the Krug Stübli within the cellar itself: truffle fondue paired with vintage Krug while surrounded by rarities. A tiny historic 1900s elevator sends bottles to 11 restaurants above.
- Festival · Price: very high White Turf - Champagne & Horse Racing on Frozen Lake Thoroughbreds racing on frozen Lake St. Moritz at 1,800m while you drink Laurent-Perrier champagne from VIP bars built on the ice. 30,000+ spectators. 130,000m² tent city on the lake. Every February since 1907. Nothing else like this on Earth.
- Tasting · Price: high Piz Nair - Wine at 3,057m Above the Clouds The highest mountain restaurant at 3,057m — "10,000 Feet" tagline. Drink Graubünden Pinot Noir while looking DOWN at the valley where grapes grew 1,500m below. Sun terrace above most clouds. The Engadine Valley spreads to Italy.
- Dining · Price: very high Chesa Veglia - Wine in a 1658 Farmhouse 367-year-old farmhouse saved from demolition by Hans Badrutt in 1928. 'Chesa Veglia' means 'old house' in Romansh. Three restaurants share a legendary wine program beneath raw beams and native carvings.
- Tour · Price: high Schloss Salenegg - Europe's Oldest Winery (1068) Europe's oldest continuously operating winery. Monks planted vines in 950 AD, wine documented since 1068. The Gugelberg von Moos family has owned it since 1654. Day trip from St. Moritz to Maienfeld. This winery is older than Oxford University.
- Dining · Price: high Restaurant Engiadina - Best Fondue + Completer Hunt Rated #2 of 106 restaurants in St. Moritz. 'Best fondue ever' reputation. This is where you order the famous fondue and ask for Completer wine - a 1321 grape with only 4 hectares planted in the entire world. Named after the Benedictine 'completorium' evening service when monks could drink it in silence.
- Tasting · Price: very high Badrutt's Palace Wine Cellar + Krug Stübli One of the world's 10 greatest wine cellars - 30,000+ bottles, Krug Ambassade status. A tiny historic elevator sends bottles to 11 restaurants, 2 bars, and a nightclub. Book the Krug Stübli within the cellar itself for truffle fondue + vintage Krug. The same family that invented winter tourism with the 1864 bet also became custodians of this collection.
- Festival · Price: very high White Turf - Champagne & Horse Racing on Frozen Lake Thoroughbreds racing on a frozen lake at 1,800m altitude while you drink champagne on the ice. This has happened every February since 1907 (119 years). Over 30,000 people build a 130,000m² tent city on the lake for three Sundays. Laurent-Perrier VIP bars serve free-flowing champagne. There is nothing else like this on Earth.
- Tasting · Price: high Restaurant Piz Nair - Wine at 3,057m The highest mountain restaurant in the area at 3,057m (10,000 feet). Sun terrace above most clouds, view spanning the entire Engadine Valley into Italy. You're drinking wine literally above the clouds while pointing down at the valley where the grapes grew. 'This Pinot Noir comes from 1,500 meters below us' hits different when you're looking down at the vineyards.
- Tour · Price: high Schloss Salenegg - Europe's Oldest Winery (1068) Tour a winery that has been producing wine for 958 consecutive years. Monks from Pfäfers Monastery planted vines here in 950 AD. The Gugelberg von Moos family has owned it since 1654. You'll taste Pinot Noir from cellars older than the Renaissance, the printing press, and the discovery of America. This isn't wine tourism - it's time travel.
- Dining · Price: high Restaurant Engiadina - Best Fondue & Completer Hunt Ranked #2 of 106 restaurants. 'Best fondue ever' reputation. Ask for Completer wine — a grape first mentioned in 1321 with only 4 hectares left on Earth. Named after the Benedictine 'completorium' when monks could drink in silence.
- Festival · Price: moderate Herrschäftler Wine Festival - Village Becomes Wine Party September 4-6, 2026 in Maienfeld. The entire village becomes a wine festival. Open cellars, rare grapes, market stalls, food, music. Hunt for Completer (1321 grape, 4 hectares globally). Producers you can't normally visit pour freely.
- Dining · Price: very high La Marmite - "World's Best Mountain Restaurant" At the Corviglia funicular summit, La Marmite claims to be the world's best mountain restaurant. The champagne list leaves nothing to be desired. The view and food make a compelling case for the bold claim.
- Dining · Price: high Muottas Muragl - Sunset Wine at 2,456m Sunset dinner at 2,456m with the Upper Engadine lake plateau spread below. The funicular runs until 23:00, so stay for the stars. Traditional Engadin dishes with wine from the valley you're looking at.
- Adventure · Free Weinwanderweg - 6km Free Wine Hiking Trail 6km free hike through Bündner Herrschaft vineyards from Maienfeld to Jenins. Same calcareous soils as Gantenbein cult Pinot Noir. Rhine Valley views. Information panels about the 1630 Burgundy connection when mercenaries brought the vines.
The story
They stayed until spring. That bet invented the winter holiday.
Badrutt's Palace holds 30,000 bottles and the Krug Stübli serves rare champagne in a room where monarchs once dined — the kind of place where you order by vintage, not by glass. White Turf brings horse racing to the frozen lake every February — champagne corks pop at -15°C while thoroughbreds thunder across ice that the Swiss Army tests for thickness each morning.
At Piz Nair (3,057m), you drink wine above the clouds. Schloss Salenegg in nearby Maienfeld is Europe's oldest winery, documented since 1068 — nearly a thousand years of unbroken winemaking. The Herrschäftler festival turns the Bündner Herrschaft wine region into Switzerland's most exclusive open cellar event, where producers who normally sell everything by allocation pour freely for one weekend. And on the Weinwanderweg, you hike 6km through vineyards that produce cult Pinot Noir selling for 200+ CHF per bottle — the trail is free, but every step walks you past wine you can't buy without a waiting list. Gantenbein. Fromm. Donatsch. Names that Swiss wine collectors whisper.