Cows of the Hérens Breed

Lausanne – Last Day – Walking Tour of UNESCO Heritage Vineyards of Lavaux

Christie Stewart met us at our hotel room just after 10:00 a.m. We walked to Old Lausanne’s Place de la Palud. Street musicians had set up near the Fontaine de la Justice;

vendors’ colourful tents dotted the square and adjacent cobbled streets for the Wednesday street market.

An hour’s worth of retail therapy was just what Suzanne and Christie needed.

Having a local like Christie saved us a lot of walking. She took us to the Metro for a quick and easy trip to the train station to catch the noon Urban Train 2. A picturesque 11-minute trip along Lac Leman brought us to Epesses, where we met Pascale Fesquet, our athletic guide, standing on the sunny platform.

Pascale is an experienced and knowledgeable hiking and mountain guide who can arrange tours in Switzerland’s one national and twenty regional parks. She also arranges experiential tours, in which you meet and work with local artisans.

Pascale would lead us on an oenotouristic hike through the historic Swiss wine-growing region of Lavaux that lies between Lausanne and Vevey. We would be hiking the “middle section,” from Epesses to Rivaz.

Ouf! Pascale led us up what seemed like an endless, steep staircase

that follows a creek through the vineyards to the ancient village of Epesses. That climb was the hardest part of our hike, but the views of the vineyards were worth it.

Okay, we had earned our lunch. We sat outside at the old Auberge du Vigneron,

whose sundeck overlooks the azure lake. Our first course was a salad with “tommes poêlés” – pan-fried tomme vaudoise (a soft cheese made from unpasteurized cows’ milk).

Suzanne decided that she could happily live henceforth exclusively on tommes poêlés. Her decision was immediately voided by the second course, two generous pieces of  “féra du Lac Léman” (broad whitefish) poached in white wine to tender perfection, and served with new potatoes and greens.

We had by now all eaten so well that, perhaps unbelievably, we declined dessert.

Fully sated, we would have loved to just sit back and enjoy the view of Lac Leman from the restaurant, but Pascale had things to show and tell us about the region.

Lavaux is called the “Vignoble en Terrasses” – terraced vineyard – with 10,000 terraces, 800 hectares of wine, and 400 kilometres of walls. The area from Lausanne to Vevey (18 kilometres) is a UNESCO zone, with Cully near its middle.

Pascale said that Lavaux has three suns: one in the sky, one that reflects off the walls, and one that reflects off the lake. No wonder the vines grow so well.

It became a World Heritage Site on June 28, 2007. We were only a few days too early to join in its tenth anniversary celebrations and activities, which will continue into the fall.

Pascale explained that our walk would take us through the 12^th-century core of Lavaux, the Clos des Moines and Clos des Abbayes. A “clos” is an enclosed field.

The Chemin de la Dame is the road through the vineyards, with a view toward the Eglise Notre-Dame in Lausanne.

 

This is a long pilgrims’ route, with castles that collected alms, and monasteries to serve the pilgrims.

There are eight appellations of wine in Lavaux. All these appellations are either names or villages. 80% of the grapes are Chasselas, the most common variety of grape grown in Lavaux. 20% are chardonnay and pinot. The appellations vary by soil, water, the sun’s angle, the wine-makers’ techniques, etc. Despite the very short distance from one end of the region to the other, all the variations in conditions made the wines from each appellation taste quite different.

At lunch, for example, our meal was accompanied by a bottle of Calamin wine from Epesses,

made from Chasselas grapes. Calamin takes its name from “Callement,” the spot where an ancient landslide just ended, and the soil (or “terroir”) is therefore distinct. The winery covers only 15 hectares. The Calamin was very smooth, with a hint of honey, and is highly prized.

We passed “capites,” or huts for workers.

The hillsides are so steep that much of the labour is done manually, with little change over the centuries.

Thunderstorms followed us all the way to Rivaz, but luckily they stayed back. We followed a trail beside a pretty waterfall down to the lakeside.

Of course we had to sample some more wines of the region. The Lavaux Vinorama

is built into a historic watermill. Its manager, Monica Tomba, welcomed us, then ushered us into a small theatre to watch a great 20-minute film about a year in the life of a Lavaux vintner.

After the film, we entered the big showroom with regional wines selected from the 149 winemakers and 290 labels.

The wines for sale are arranged in order from Lutry at one end of the lakeside to Chillon at the other.

For our wine tasting, Monica chose four:

1.   Villette, near the beginning of Lavaux at Lutry.

2.   Dézaley – boss of the Chasselas wines – very still – good with gruyère, white meat, fish.

3.   Malbec – Cabernet Franc from St-Saphorin.

4.   Plant Robert – an ancient grape that was thought lost until a few plants were found during roadwork. It has a very floral scent, chocolaty, a somewhat peppery after-taste. The scent becomes grassy with airing. One story is that it was stolen long ago from Burgundy.

We really did notice how distinct the wines tasted, made from the same Chasselas grapes but grown in different parts of the region. And while Suzanne and I liked the Plant Robert, it wasn’t as much to Christie’s taste. The varied terroirs of Lavaux produce wines for every palate.

Slightly tiddled, we had almost no time to waste after the wine-tasting. Pascale hustled us to the Rivaz station just in time to catch the train back to Lausanne at 5:41 p.m., then left to drive to her own rustic chalet.

We all freshened up in our room before heading off to an outstanding supper in Hotel Mirabeau’s restaurant.

 OK…I cheated and had some dessert

to celebrate a wonderful three days and our last evening with Christie in Lausanne. We toasted the occasion and the day’s adventures with a fine wine from Epesses.