In the world's wine pages you don't find much written about Swiss wines. That's not because they don't make them, it's because they rarely leave the country. There are a few reasons for this: it's partly because the Swiss themselves drink a large proportion of their small production, but there's an economic reason as well. Switzerland is a rich country and their basic wages are high. Swiss vineyards are on high mountain land where the work is of necessity manual. That makes the costs of producing the wine high and if it wasn't for a system of government subsidies there probably wouldn't be any Swiss wines at all.

The late Peter Ustinov, a one-time Swiss resident, told the story of the time he'd tasted Swiss wine at a trade fair in Canada, where he experienced a taste sensation that he'd never found drinking those same wines in Switzerland. He concluded, reasonably enough, that Swiss wine must be much improved by travel, so after that he always drove his wine about in the boot of his car before he drank it.

Probably the best known wine growing region in Switzerland is the Valais, where the Rhone rises. Wines have been grown here for centuries and the wines, although never common, can occasionally be found. Although most of well-known white grapes are grown in the Valais, the principle white grape is the Chasselas, also known as Fendant, which though taking a long time to mature, does well in the long cool summers of this Alpine region. In the upper Valais there are vineyards at over 1,000 metres above sea level, making them the highest in Europe.

Typically these white Fendant whites are low in acidity and dry with no particularly pronounced aromas or flavours. The town of Sion is in the middle of this region and the Fendant de Sion has one major claim to fame - in Finnegan's Wake James Joyce selects it as his favourite white wine. We'll never know if today's Fendant de Sion is the same wine as Joyce himself drank - nor is it a given that great writers are necessarily connoisseurs of wine - but what with it being the centenary of Bloomsday this year, the Fendant de Sion is appearing all over Ireland.

Just to be sure that you'll make the connection, that iconic photograph with the signature hat and shades is on the label, along with the number 100 several times over. There's a red too, called Dole de Sion, which has an identical label. The red is made from Gamay and Pinot Noir, so it's not completely unlike a rather insipid Burgundy or Beaujolais.

Wine of the Week

Fendant de Sion

Since we're almost in the middle of the centenary celebrations of the great man's birth, it seems almost churlish not to pick this as wine of the week. What you'll get with this bottle, however, is much more of a sense of history and communion with a great writer, than a great wine. If you were to have some kind of Joycean celebration, then this wine should make an appearance - if only as an homage. Actually, as Swiss wine go, this isn't very expensive.

Available O'Brien's, Molloys, Mitchells and selected off-licenses, RRP €10.95