Patrick Fonjallaz

About Winery and Wines

There is far more to Switzerland than its beautiful landscapes, watch-making industry and the heroics of its legendary patriot William Tell. By ignoring Swiss vineyards, one would miss an essential feature of its culture and identity whose roots go back as far as history itself. Christian tradition holds that Noah was both the “first husbandman” to plant vineyards from the fruit of the earth, and the inventor of wine. Judging from the current extent of wine-growing country, the biblical Patriarch must have had quite a number of followers. Today in the world there are close to ten million hectares of vineyards with five thousand different grape varieties. Compared to this, wine-growing Switzerland – which comprises a mere fifteen thousand hectares – might be considered Lilliputian were it not that these vineyards are set in one of the earth’s most beautiful natural sceneries. Pursuing Noah’s work in such a wondrous environment is an almost holy privilege. The Canton of Vaud, in the western part of Switzerland, is home to one of the country’s major wine-growing areas. Its almost four thousand hectares are divided into four areas at each point of the compass. Arising west of the Canton’s capital Lausanne, one of these areas – Lavaux – overlooks Lake Geneva as if suspended between heaven and earth. This marvellous landscape is worth more than a detour: it fully justifies a dedicated trip. The steep stone-walled terraces – jewels of the World Natural Heritage as acknowledged by UNESCO – are due to the work of Cistercian monks. Formerly located in the Haut-Crêt Abbey close to Oron and in the Montheron Abbey, nestling in the Jorat woods, these fervent and industrious men of God were entrusted by the Bishop of Lausanne with clearing and shaping this previously uncultivated land. From 1141 onwards and for almost two centuries, it was their tireless labour which shaped the magnificent outline of the Dézaley vineyard, at the very heart of the Lavaux area.