Dézaley: Walk the Grand Cru Gate by Gate, Then Drink It in Epesses

The Dézaley has no village of its own: under Vaud law it is a slope of Puidoux above the lake. Its growers mark it with metal gates. Climb the stair beside the Forestay waterfall to Porte 2, walk west through vines Cistercian monks planted in the 12th century, and stand at Porte 1, where the Dézaley meets the Calamin. Then go down to Epesses, where from April to October growers pour their own Dézaley in a vaulted cellar. Bilanz counts the Dézaley among the top regions of Swiss wine growing.

What to do there

4 things to do

1. 1 Climb the Waterfall Stair Into the Dézaley Adventure · Free

   The Forestay stair, up to the growers' Porte 2.

   The growers say capites were tool sheds whose hoe gave Lavaux a land unit, the fossorier: a man's day of digging, 450 m².

   Where: from stop 2's stream, the foot of the stair by the Vinorama in Rivaz.

   What: climb beside the Forestay and its waterfall to Porte 2, La Savorettaz, where the chemin du Dézaley crosses the chemin de la Dame.

   How: sit at its picnic table by the Capite à Antoine, facing the Tour de Marsens.

   Log Memory
2. 2 Read the Rock and the Mortar Under the Monks' Vines History · Free

   Porte 3, the walls and the DEZALEY letters.

   In the 12th century the bishop of Lausanne gave this slope to Cistercian abbeys, Haut-Crêt in the west and Montheron in the east, whose monks planted it with vines.

   Where: Porte 3, on the chemin de la Dame.

   What: the growers say poudingue and molasse rocks meet here, marked by the Rhône glacier, and that the walls, which look like dry stone, were mortared in the Middle Ages. Find the DEZALEY letters they say a helicopter set for 1999.

   How: keep to the signed paths; bring sun protection and water.

   Log Memory
3. 3 Stand on the Line Where the Dézaley Meets the Calamin History · Free

   Porte 1: two Grands crus, one path between them.

   Vaud law draws two Grands crus side by side here, each its own single production place: the Dézaley, Puidoux land, and the Calamin, the former commune of Epesses below the Route de la Corniche.

   Where: Porte 1, the Croisée Chemin des Grands Crus.

   What: stand with the Dézaley's 54 ha behind you and the Calamin's 16 ha ahead.

   How: take the chemin du Calamin down to Epesses.

   Log Memory
4. 4 Drink the Dézaley Where Its Growers Pour It Wine · Price: low

   A vaulted cellar in Epesses, a different grower each week.

   The Dézaley has no caveau; its growers send you to the villages. In Epesses more than twenty growers take turns pouring their own Epesses, Calamin and Dézaley in a vaulted cellar.

   Where: Ruelle du Vieux-Bourg 2.

   How: walk in; ask what a glass costs. Photo memory: your Dézaley under the vault, or on the terrace above Lake Geneva in good weather.

   Backup: when it is shut, Les 11 Terres, Ruelle du Petit-Crêt 2, says it gathers more than 50 Lavaux wines from 11 growers. The R4 stops 299 m away.

   Log Memory

Insider tips

• Old listings give the Epesses caveau a website that now leads to an online-casino site. Phone the caveau instead: +41 79 378 42 49.

• On Sunday 25 October 2026, Un Dimanche en Dézaley puts the growers along the chemin du Dézaley between Epesses and Chexbres, 11h–16h; entry is CHF 25.

• To keep a bottle: Blaise Duboux, who says he is the seventeenth generation of his family to grow vines in Epesses, sells from his cellar on Saturdays 09h–15h.