The Brotherhood
Friends, bound by the vine.
LCV Suisse is a private circle founded on friendship and curiosity. We gather to open remarkable bottles, to learn together, and to travel to the places where great wine is made.
Since 1979
Founded in 1979 in St. Gallen — around the table of Manfred Dahler — Les Compagnons du Vin Suisse has gathered almost every month for over four decades to taste wine blind, from the celebrated names to the quietly overlooked. No labels, no preconceptions: only the glass, the company, and our full attention on what is in the bottle and the hands that made it.
The Loge in numbers
Four decades of blind tastings, in round numbers.
Since 1979
In the glass
On the road
The Compagnons
We bridge the generations
47 years between our youngest and eldest Compagnon — and a wine trip every year, five days and fifty-odd wines at a time, across more than fifty regions and the tables that go with them.
1999 — Philipp Schwander, Switzerland's first Master of Wine, joins as our honorary member.
Hundreds of friendships made across the wine community — the world over.
“Wine is infinite — we never stop learning.”
Honorary member
Philipp SchwanderMaster of Wine
We are honoured to count Philipp Schwander MW — the first and, to this day, the only Swiss to earn the Master of Wine title — among us as an honorary member. His palate, his generosity and his bottomless curiosity have graced many an evening, and his friendship is a quiet privilege of the Lodge.
A wine enthusiast since the age of sixteen, he bought for St. Gallen's venerable Martel and Zurich's Albert Reichmuth before founding Selection Schwander in 2003. He writes on wine for the NZZ and the Tages-Anzeiger, tends century-old bush vines in the Priorat — and the Swiss press calls him the «Weinpapst», the wine pope.
Many trades, one table
Around our table sit many callings. The Compagnons bring the rigour of banking and law, the care of medicine and pediatrics, the precision of IT and oenology, the patience of teaching and the warmth of sales — and one who counsels by day yet hunts at dawn, his keen eye and unrepentant gourmand's appetite the surest at the table. Different disciplines, one shared language: the wine in the glass.
The members
🇨🇭 7 · 🇳🇱 1From 35 to 82, we span the generations — bound by a common love for the grape.
The Decanter
“Needs a full hour to open up — then never shuts up.”
Baron von Bouquet
“Detects notes of leather, tobacco and his own brilliance.”
Captain Cork
“Never met a bottle he couldn't open, or a magnum he couldn't finish.”
The Tannin Tamer
“Firm structure, age-worthy, mildly astringent before noon.”
Sir Swirl-a-Lot
“Aerates everything within reach. Including his espresso.”
Duke of Decant
“Firmly believes breathing is for wine, not for small talk.”
The Velvet Palate
“Smooth on the attack, suspiciously long on the finish.”
The Game Counsel
“Lawyer and huntsman both — thin-skinned and complex, like the Pinot Noir he cross-examines by the case.”
Magnum Opus
“Holds, as a point of law, that anything worth drinking is worth drinking by the magnum.”
Van der Vine
“Our flying Dutchman — taller than the vines, deeper than the cellar.”
Friends of the LCV
Beyond the ten, dozens of friends of the Compagnons join us for our events through the year — and, now and then, for a monthly tasting. We are so glad to count the friends of the LCV among us.
Our wine travels
Over the years our glasses have led us across borders — into the cellars, vineyards and dining rooms of the people who make the wines we love.
We hold the world's winemakers in deep affection and respect, and count it a true privilege to have shared in their creations.
From our tastings
A living tally of what the Lodge has poured over the years — drawn from our tasting book.
Recently in our glasses