THE VINEYARDS

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.

The Lavaux landscape is an open book unveiling a few stages of the Earth’s geological history. The 30 million year old sandstone base runs alongside slightly more recent pudding stone and marl beds. These layers streak the vineyards to make up its basic structure. But it was the Ice Ages which finally set the landscape. Repeated glaciations started 2 million years ago and ended 10,000 before our time, leaving highly visible marks. In particular, the Rhône glacier dug the bed of Lake Geneva, depositing its moraine which provided the precious soil for our vineyards.

The scene was set to enable 50 generations of wine growers, a few thousand years on, to perfect nature’s work and shape the current landscape – a ribbon of vineyards crowned with the forest.

Under the benign influence of the lake which moderates temperature differences, Lavaux’s climate in summer is hot but not exceedingly dry.  Sometimes harsh in winter, the cold is mitigated by periods of thaw.  Lake Geneva never ices over and, each winter, welcomes myriads of birds fleeing the North.

The average yearly temperature is close to 10°C.  Although the thermometer may go down to -12°C in January or February, each summer it records 30 to 60 days above 25°C.  The west wind carries humidity from the Atlantic, while the bise – from the north-west – ensures stable and dry weather.

The vineyards fully enjoy the generous sun rays thanks to the slope’s ideal aspect.  The heat accumulated in the walls and reflected by the lake’s still waters in September also helps to bring to the grapes to full maturity.

A lovely example of man-made landscape, the Lavaux vineyards hang on to the slopes between the sky and the lake.  More than part of the landscape, the vineyards ARE the landscape itself thanks to the countless walls – several hundred kilometres – which support, surround and delineate them by making up dozens of overlying terraces.

The construction of terraces on the Dézaley’s steepest slopes goes back to the 13th century.