The following day, in search of a stronger drink, I head out to Lavaux, a UNESCO-listed wine region a 20-minute drive west of Montreux, where the vines run down to the water in neat lines. In the pretty village of Epesses, I tell winemaker Blaise Duboux about my hydrating dip and he laughs heartily — pointing over the lake to the spa town of Évian, where France’s famous mineral water is bottled. “You could say we’re a ‘luxury’ vineyard,” he jokes, eyes sparkling as he adjusts his jaunty cravat. “We have the same rain!” Of Lavaux’s 158 winemakers, he’s one of only 14 operating organically. “We have to think about Mother Earth and work with conscience,” says Blaise. “I want to express what my soil is able to express and to work with nature, not against; to be like a surfer catching a wave.” This admirable approach doesn’t make for an easy life, Blaise tells me. “As well as making the wine, we also bottle and label it here. It’s very hard work, but I love it.”
As we stroll a small section of his 135 acres, he waves to a group of seasonal labourers from North Macedonia. They’re here to help with the crucial job of removing extra leaves from the vines, allowing air to circulate to prevent mildew destroying the plant; being so close to a huge lake, conditions are misty and humid. The sloped terraces allow extra sun to reach the vines but, because they’re so steep, everything must be done by hand. “We work in much the same way the previous 17 generations of my family did,” says Blaise.
At a shady terrace outside his house, he offers a clue to his sanguinity, removing his jacket to reveal a purple T-shirt printed with the slogan: ‘Keep Calm and Drink Chasselas’. “The soil pumps minerals into the fruit — this grape is a soil revelator,” he says, pouring me a glass of Sursum Corda, a white wine named for his family motto, Latin for ‘high hearts’. Taking a sip, I see what he means — it’s citrussy, almost salty and exquisitely drinkable. Another wine, a Haut de Pierre Dézaley Grand Cru made exclusively from old vine Chasselas, is richer and more mellow. I ask Blaise why Swiss wine doesn’t have a celebrated reputation abroad and he tells me it’s because, nationally, only 1% is exported — the Swiss prefer to drink it themselves.