Richard Pfister

Coming Up

Richard Pfister trained at Changins School of Oenology and Viticulture, a formation that reads less like a credential than the beginning of a language he would go on to speak fluently: the language of texture, balance, and restraint. In wine, he seems to favor clarity over flourish, and his own concise view of alcohol says as much as any résumé ever could: “L’alcool, pourvu qu’il y en ait peu et qu’il soit naturel, suffit.” It is a sentence with the clean lines of his profession—measured, spare, and unsentimental, yet quietly exacting. That same precision shapes the way he thinks about assemblage. Where some might describe blending as art, Pfister reduces it to an elegant proportion, a practical arithmetic of harmony. “En fait, à raison de 50% de l’un et de l’autre, on a l’assemblage final.” In that brief formulation lies a whole philosophy of wine: not excess, not domination by one element or another, but the patient pursuit of equilibrium.

Where They Are Now

He works as oenologist at Anima Vins, in Vevey, where his role places him at the center of decisions that ask for both technical discipline and sensory finesse. The title of oenologist suggests science, but the work itself is also about attention—the kind that listens to a wine as it develops, notices what it needs, and knows when to hold back. At Anima Vins, Pfister’s approach seems to be defined by the same instinct that animates his words: keep it natural, keep it balanced, keep it clear.

Signature

Richard's signature wines include Chasselas Déluge 2021 and Anima Prisme 2023. These wines sit neatly within his restrained and analytical sensibility, the sort of bottles that invite contemplation rather than theatrics. Chasselas Déluge 2021 and Anima Prisme 2023 suggest a producer attentive to structure and proportion, drawn to wines that reveal themselves through balance. If his aphorisms are any guide, his style is likely to privilege precision over opulence, and coherence over noise.

In Their Words “En fait, à raison de 50% de l’un et de l’autre, on a l’assemblage final.” “L’alcool, pourvu qu’il y en ait peu et qu’il soit naturel, suffit.” Together, these two lines offer a compact portrait of Richard Pfister’s approach to wine: a belief in moderation, a respect for nature, and an unwavering commitment to the measured craft of making things fit. The first speaks to blending as balance, the second to alcohol as something to be handled lightly, almost sparingly. In both, there is the same disciplined elegance—the sense that wine, at its best, should be composed with just enough and no more.