Valser: From Swiss Mountain to Top Table

When it comes to wine and champagne, we naturally talk about origin, serving temperature, choice of glass, vintage and what happens when it is paired with a dish. With water, the decision in a restaurant is usually made much more quickly: still or sparkling. Yet water accompanies a menu from the first course to the last and performs a sensory role that is surprisingly rarely discussed.

This is precisely where Valser comes in. The Swiss mineral water brand wants to do more in fine dining to explain how to choose the right water. For Constance Courtois-Delanoë, Marketing Director Switzerland at The Coca-Cola Company, this is closely linked to how Swiss gastronomy is evolving. Guests, she says, are taking a greater interest in where products come from: their origin, the people behind them and the story attached to them. In fine dining, there is also the pursuit of quality, craftsmanship, consistency and attention to detail.

"Swiss origin is central to Valser," says Courtois-Delanoë. For her, quality and reliability over many years are equally important. The brand sees this as a natural link to Swiss gastronomy, which brings together terroir and history with innovation and progress.

Constance Courtois-Delanoë, Marketing Director Switzerland at The Coca-Cola Company. (Image: Peter Klaus)

From Water on the Table to a Conscious Choice

Valser has been present in Swiss gastronomy for decades. The brand began deliberately placing its water in restaurants as early as 1983. Coca-Cola, which has owned Valser Mineralquellen since 2002, now speaks of an even stronger focus on restaurants and describes Valser as one of the leading mineral waters in Swiss gastronomy.

Fine dining offers something that retail can hardly provide: time. The evening begins with the welcome, moves on to advice, the menu and wine, and unfolds over several hours. For Courtois-Delanoë, Valser should become part of this experience too.
"Our goal is that people don't simply order a water to go with their meal. The water should be part of the story the restaurant tells."

At first glance, this sounds like brand communication, but there is also a sensory side to it. Water cleanses the palate between courses and makes room for the next flavour. Courtois-Delanoë particularly highlights the neutrality of still Valser water, which she says is appreciated at such moments. For wine and champagne, this kind of engagement has long been routine. With water, it is still in its infancy in many places.

That is precisely why she speaks of an educational process that will take time. The brand cannot take on this task alone, she says. Chefs, sommeliers and people with sensory expertise are needed, because they can explain why a particular water is chosen.

The Bottle Alone Is Not Enough

The revamped Valser design is only one part of the strategy. In 2026, Coca-Cola deliberately gave the brand a more minimalist and modern look, while announcing that it would put even greater emphasis on gastronomy. The distinctive bottle shape featuring the mountain panorama of Vals has been retained.

Even so, for Courtois-Delanoë the bottle alone is not enough. "If you focus only on the bottle on the table, at some point the story gets lost and people forget why exactly that bottle is there." She therefore speaks of an ecosystem made up of brand presence, media, partnerships, chefs and gastronomic platforms.

An ecosystem of brand presence, media, partnerships, chefs and gastronomic platforms. (Image: Peter Klaus)

This is where personalities such as Mitja Birlo and Marco Piatti take on a different role from that of classic testimonials. Valser currently features both in its chef communications (both have already been profiled by finews) and presents them as part of its culinary brand world.

Courtois-Delanoë is very clear about how they are selected: "For us, values are what matter. Origin, quality and attention to detail." The best ambassador, she says, is a chef who is personally convinced they want to serve this water to their guests.
This is an interesting point, because it goes beyond the classic logic of sponsorship. In a restaurant, a partnership works best when the chef can justify the choice themselves. That is where presence turns into credibility.

St. Moritz Shows How Far This Idea Can Go

The St. Moritz Gourmet Festival provided a special platform for this. For more than three decades, the festival has stood for haute cuisine in the Upper Engadine, and in 2026 it was moved to the summer for the first time.

Valser used the setting for a production that went far beyond a bottle on the table. Guests and journalists were taken on a historic Swiss train through the mountain landscape. The focus was on origin, landscape and making it clear where the water comes from. Courtois-Delanoë puts it in an evocative image: "Sometimes I say our factory is the mountains."

This was followed by a culinary pairing with Mitja Birlo of the two-star restaurant The Counter in Zurich, top sommelière Florentina Birlo, wine pairing and Valser. The idea was to bring cuisine, wine, water and origin together in a single experience. For Courtois-Delanoë, it was "an extraordinary experience", designed to offer participants a special kind of break from everyday life.

The feedback, she says, confirmed the strategic direction. "The brand fit is there, the positioning is right, and we need to keep investing in this direction." Valser therefore intends to further develop its collaboration with fine dining, with influential chefs and with platforms such as St. Moritz.

Courtois-Delanoë states the goal very clearly: Valser should further sharpen its profile in the premium segment and use culinary experiences to show the role water can play at a well-laid table.

Swiss Origin Is Strong – but It Is Not Enough

The conversation takes an interesting twist when Courtois-Delanoë puts the brand's own origin story into perspective. Vals is undoubtedly central to the brand. The place, the mountains and the Swiss origin provide a strong starting point. But she is just as clear: "Being just a Swiss water brand is not enough."

The real task, she says, is to connect history and origin with present-day relevance. How does an established brand manage to become part of everyday life for a younger generation too? Her image for this is refreshingly concrete: you invite friends or colleagues for dinner, cook something good, serve a nice wine – and want to be just as naturally proud of the water standing next to it.

There is more to this than fine dining. Top-end gastronomy can be a place where people begin to perceive water differently. What is explained and experienced there may later end up on their own dining table.

When Less Alcohol Gives Water More Room

Towards the end of the conversation, another perspective opens up that could become interesting for Valser. The way people drink is changing. One or two good glasses of wine or champagne are still part of a special evening, but at the same time people are thinking more carefully about how much alcohol they consume over several hours.

Water as part of the dining experience. (Image: Peter Klaus)

Courtois-Delanoë observes precisely this desire for balance. "You treat yourself to one or two glasses and then ask yourself how to moderate your consumption." Water then plays an important role for two reasons, she says: it is free of alcohol and calories, yet remains part of the dining experience. Both trends are currently relevant to consumers.

This gives Valser's fine-dining strategy added topicality. Water does not need to replace wine or champagne. It earns its own place in the course of an evening, especially when enjoyment is defined less by quantity and more by conscious choice.

Valser brings a lot to the table: Swiss origin, decades of presence in gastronomy, a refreshed look and now a whole series of chefs who place the brand within their own culinary worlds. The exciting question now is whether it can turn a product that has long been taken for granted on many tables into one whose selection guests think about as carefully as the glass beside it.