Canton with the capital of the same name in French-speaking Switzerland in the southwest of the country. It is also one of the six Swiss wine regions. The vineyards, mostly on clay, limestone and gravel-rich soils, cover 1,340 hectares of vineyards around the town at the south-western end of Lac Léman (Lake Geneva) and between the right bank of the Rhône and the French border (the so-called Mandement). More than half is planted with the Chasselas variety (here with the protected name Perlan). Other white wine varieties are Müller-Thurgau, Aligoté, Chardonnay, Freisamer, Kerner, Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon. The dominant red wine variety is Pinot Noir with a third of the area, others are Cabernet Sauvignon, Gamaret, Garanoir, Merlot and Syrah.
Geneva was the first canton to enact laws for the production of wines of controlled origin (AOC) in 1988. The classified AOC communes are Bardonnex, Céligny, Choulex, Choully, Collex-Bossy, Cologny, Dardagny, Hermance, Lully, Jussy, Peissy, Russin and Satigny (the largest wine-growing commune in Switzerland with almost 500 hectares). Under the name "Cave de Genève", around one hundred winegrowers produce about a quarter of all Geneva wines on around 400 hectares of vineyards. Well-known producers are Domaine des Balisiers, Florian Barthassat, Dupraz, Domaine Grand'Cour, Domaine des Molards, Domaine du Paradis and Ramu.
