Sunset wine tasting on Lake Geneva with Alps backdrop

How to Complete

4 steps curated by Wine Memories

1. 📜 1

   Discover Where Three Suns Shine on the Same Vine

   history Free

   You are standing inside what National Geographic called "the place where three suns shine." The first sun blazes overhead on these south-facing slopes. The second is beneath you: Lake Leman is 580 square kilometres of mirror, reflecting light back UP onto the grapes from below, doubling the warmth they receive all day. The third is in those limestone terrace walls behind you — Cistercian monks built them in the 12th century, stone that absorbs heat all day and releases it all night, keeping vines warm through cold Swiss mountain nights. Walk from Cully train station straight down to the shaded lakefront square at Place d'Armes 16, 1096 Cully (five minutes on foot, ends at the water). Face south across the water with Alps rising across France ahead of you, vineyards climbing 75 metres behind you in just 150 metres horizontal — nearly a 45-degree gradient. On clear autumn days, Mont Blanc is visible 80km away. Turn slowly and count the terrace walls.

   🔄 BACKUP: If the main square is crowded, walk 200 metres east along the lake shore path at water level before reaching the port. Same view, fewer people.

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2. 🍷 2

   Taste the Wine the Cistercians Made for the Bishop of Lausanne

   wine $$

   Ask specifically to taste the Dezaley grand cru — not just the flagship wine of the Lavaux, but the officially declared ORIGIN of Chasselas worldwide. All 54 hectares were first terraced by Cistercian monks in the 12th century to supply wine to the Bishop of Lausanne. The grand cru rules are uncompromising: minimum 6-7 Oechsle HIGHER sugar than regular Lavaux Chasselas, no blending allowed, vintage mandatory on the label. The wine tastes of honey, smoke, almonds, and what winemakers call 'pierre a fusil' — gunflint — 900 years of limestone walls, three suns, and monastic obsession in your glass. Domaine Croix Duplex (Route de Chenaux 2, 1091 Grandvaux) sits two minutes walk from Grandvaux train station with terraces overlooking Lake Geneva and the Alps directly. Standard tasting is CHF 39 — four wines plus one souvenir bottle per person. Thursday to Saturday open until 20:00, perfect for golden-hour terrace; Monday 10:00-18:00. Ask for the upper terrace — it faces the lake directly.

   🔄 BACKUP: If fully booked, walk 10 minutes downhill to Lavaux Vinorama (Route Cantonale 2, Rivaz, tel +41 21 946 31 31) — 250+ wines from every Lavaux appellation, wine bar format, open year-round, terrace over the lake.

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3. ⛰️ 3

   Borrow a Lounger and Drink Artisan Wine Beside the Lake

   adventure $

   About ten artisan winemakers from Cully and the surrounding vineyards take turns behind this bar — not a tourist operation, but a collective where the actual growers pour their own wine. Ask for a glass of Epesses (the local Chasselas — slightly perlant, floral, 170 hectares grown in the terraces directly above your head) and borrow one of the wooden loungers stacked near the entrance at Caveau des Vignerons de Cully (Place d'Armes 16, 1096 Cully). Carry it 15 metres to the water's edge, sit with the lake essentially at arm's reach, and watch the sun track behind the French Alps. The producers who made this wine are somewhere up in those terraces right now — you are drinking their entire year's labour as the day ends. Open Thursday to Sunday 17:00-21:00, May to October only. Ask the winemaker behind the bar which estate they represent tonight and what they recommend from their own vineyards.

   🔄 BACKUP: If the Caveau is closed (strictly seasonal and closed Monday through Wednesday), walk to the Auberge du Raisin (in the village centre, 14 Gault Millau points, open most of the week) — a 15th-century stone building with a summer terrace and a wine list built entirely around Lavaux appellations.

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4. ⛰️ 4

   Walk Through the Vineyard the Landslide Created

   Optional

   adventure Free

   This walk takes you directly through the heart of Calamin grand cru — 16.5 hectares, one of Switzerland's smallest wine appellations, and it only exists because the mountain collapsed TWICE in the 7th century. Two landslides in rapid succession left a very specific soil composition at this spot: more earth than bedrock, which gives Calamin Chasselas its distinctive mineral personality and the mouthwatering bitter finish that distinguishes it from Dezaley 1km away. Start at Cully train station and walk east along the signposted Sentier Viticole (Wine Path) toward Saint-Saphorin — 6.6km one-way, about 1 hour 50 minutes at a relaxed pace. The entire Lavaux slope was carved by the Rhone glacier retreating 15,000 years ago; you are walking through the geology of catastrophe that became great wine. Near the halfway point, above Riex village, you can count the Dent du Midi peaks across the lake — seven summits visible on a clear day.

   🔄 BACKUP: If you prefer a shorter version, walk just the 25-minute stretch from Cully east to the Calamin appellation marker above Riex — the viewpoint there looks straight down the axis of the lake toward Montreux.

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Insider Tips

• ✦

  Take the CGN boat from Lausanne for stunning terrace views before stopping at Cully

• ✦

  Book a lakeside terrace table at Café de la Poste for sunset wine with local cheese

• ✦

  The three suns phenomenon (sky, lake, walls) creates ideal ripening conditions