Moment · Switzerland
Private Tastings in the Lavaux Vineyards above Lake Geneva
Taste Chasselas with family growers on UNESCO-listed terraces that tumble to the lake, then lunch looking across to the Alps.
A Thousand Years of Terraces
Along Lake Geneva’s northern shore, the Lavaux terraces cover 830 hectares, the largest continuous wine region in Switzerland. Over ten thousand terraces, each held up by dry-stone walls, step up the hillside; monks of the Cistercian and Benedictine orders built some of them 900 years ago. UNESCO listed the region in 2007, and it’s still planted mostly with Chasselas, a white grape that thrives on these steep, sunny slopes.
Vines, Villages and the Alps
The terraces rise straight out of the lake, rows of vines following the curve of the hill at gradients of up to 90 percent. On clear days the French Alps stand across the water, and stone hamlets sit tucked into the slopes, linked by narrow paths running between St-Saphorin, Rivaz and Cully. It’s a gorgeous day out for a couple or a few friends.
The hard part is not finding a beautiful place. It is finding the right one for you.
Request a quote →Three Suns and Two Grand Crus
Local growers talk of three suns shaping their wine: direct sunshine from above, light reflected off the lake, and warmth stored in the stone walls into the evening. Lavaux holds two grand cru appellations, Calamin, on the slopes above Cully, loved for its flinty minerality, and Dézaley, near Puidoux, whose whites taste of smoke and honey. You hop between family cellars as slowly as you please, then sit down to lunch with the lake below whenever you’re ready.
Beyond the Land Trains
Many people tour Lavaux aboard the tourist road trains from Chexbres, Cully or Lutry, or walk Route 113, which runs 11.3 kilometres between Lutry and St-Saphorin. Either way you get a fine general view but no access to the small estates or their wines. Privately, you meet growers who don’t usually open to passers-by, with the day set around you. May to October is the best time, with the harvest in September and October. Your Out Of Office LGBTQ+ travel specialist can pair the day with a welcoming lakeside hotel, and our Switzerland guide covers LGBTQ+ rights and travel advice.
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