Lavaux Wine Tour > From the mountainside to Grand Cru wines

From the mountainside to Grand Cru wines

At the Dézaley Grand Cru AOC appellation, Chasselas is king. Originating on the shores of Lake Geneva, this grape variety is the one used to make these distinctive wines, featuring ‘burnt’ hints on the nose, as people call them around here: perhaps best understood as a toast-like aroma, often combined with a whiff of almond, tea, or honey.

Chasselas usually produces quite light wines, but those produced at Dézaley are far more powerful and full in the mouth, with plenty of body and density – even an enlivening touch of bitterness. These wines are delicious young, but are also worth ageing for a few or indeed many years! Tasting a Dézaley that’s a couple of decades old is always an unforgettable experience.

An extraordinary combination of climat, soil and vine           

Dézaley Grand Cru AOC is grown on 54 hectares between the village of Épesses and the cliffs to the west of Rivaz. The appellation is produced on the steepest slopes of the Lavaux vineyards, with gradients steeper than 50-60% in some places. Encircled by the mountains, Lake Geneva tempers the continental climate; significant altitude variations result in a distinctive breeze; local easterly winds blow too. Add to that Chasselas, the perfect variety for this environment, and the result is an extraordinary combination of climate, soil and vine allowing excellent wines to be produced year after year.