Terrace hike wine challenge - 3 tastings in 3 villages

How to Complete

6 steps curated by Wine Memories

1. 📜 1

   Walk the Foot of the 1,000-Year Monk Staircase

   history Free

   You're standing at the foot of nearly 450 kilometers of dry-stone walls, built by Benedictine and Cistercian monks from the 11th century onward on 30-50% slopes above Lake Geneva. The monasteries of Lutry, Hautcret and Montheron cleared forested hillsides by hand, stacking walls that reach 5-6 meters high, to create over 10,000 individual terraces. In 1972, a construction project threatened to bulldoze sections of it — environmentalist Franz Weber launched 'Sauver Lavaux' and in 1977 Vaud voters approved constitutional protection (55%) for the entire region. Take the train from Lausanne (10 minutes) to Lutry station, then walk 10 minutes down to Lutry village harbor at Quai Gustave Doret 1, 1095 Lutry. Walk east from the pier along the lakeside path, then begin climbing uphill into the terraced vineyards following Route 113 (the Swiss Wine Route, signposted on Schweizmobil). Look back over Lake Geneva — the water's surface acts as a mirror, reflecting sunlight back up onto the vines, one of the famous 'three suns' of Lavaux.

   🔄 BACKUP: Arriving by car? Park at the Lutry harbor lot (free on weekends). If the lakeside trail is flooded in spring, take the road path directly up through the village to the vineyard level.

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2. 🍷 2

   Taste the Wine the Swiss Keep to Themselves

   wine $

   97% of Lavaux wine never leaves Switzerland. The Swiss drink nearly all of it themselves — they can, because the country produces about 1% of global wine output and has a population happy to consume every bottle. These are not export wines. Inside Caveau des Vignerons (Grand-Rue 23, 1095 Lutry, in the medieval heart of the village), 25 rotating producers from the Villette and Lutry appellations take turns behind the bar, pouring Chasselas they grew themselves. This is the grape that wine writers call 'the most terroir-transparent in the world' — neutral in nature, it reads the exact soil beneath it and reflects that back in the glass: limestone gives you mineral freshness, clay gives you warmth and power. Walk in, take a seat at the bar or stone tables, and ask what's open. Order a glass of local Chasselas (approximately CHF 5-8 per glass) and request the producer tell you which parcel it's from — ask specifically: 'What's different between your Chasselas and a Dezaley?'

   🔄 BACKUP: If the caveau is closed, any village wine bar along Grand-Rue in Lutry pours local Chasselas. The annual Fete des Vendanges harvest festival (last weekend of September, running since 1947) has street-level cellar tastings free of charge throughout the village.

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3. 🍷 3

   Drink the Grand Cru AOC That Covers Just 16 Hectares

   wine $

   Below Epesses village lies the Calamin Grand Cru — just 16 hectares, covering 2% of all Lavaux production, one of only two Grand Cru AOC designations in all of Switzerland (both awarded 2009). The terroir here is the direct result of two ancient landslides in the 7th century that buried this hillside in deep, clayey soil unlike anything else in Lavaux. Chasselas from these 16 hectares tastes of caramel, mineral warmth and power — it literally coats the palate differently from a lakeside Chasselas grown 2km away. Les 11 Terres (Ruelle du Petit Cret 2, 1098 Epesses) offers the CHF 18 tasting bundle: three Chasselas wines from different Lavaux appellations paired with three local products. Hike east from Lutry along the terrace trail (about 45 minutes through the vineyards) or take the PostBus to Epesses. Order the CHF 18 tasting bundle and ask to taste them in the order served — compare the Calamin (clay: warm, caramel, powerful) against a more lakeside Chasselas (mineral, fresh, citrus).

   🔄 BACKUP: If Les 11 Terres is full, the Caveau des Vignerons d'Epesses (village cooperative) is also in the village and offers walk-in tasting.

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4. 📜 4

   Touch the Walls the Cistercians Built Over Two Centuries

   history Free

   In 1141, the Bishop of Lausanne, Guy de Maligny, gave a tract of useless forested hillside to Cistercian monks from the Haucret des Tavernes monastery with one instruction: make it into a vineyard. What followed took two centuries — until roughly 1341, monks built 400 kilometers of stone walls (some over 15 meters high) on a 30-50% slope where one wrong step meant falling to the lake. The result: 55 hectares of the most precisely engineered vineyard in the world. Walk the terrace path through the Dezaley Grand Cru vineyard between Rivaz and Epesses (look for Dezaley signage along the path). Stop at any point, face the lake, and touch one of the retaining walls — these were placed stone by stone, starting 880 years ago. The wall is warm from the sun and will radiate that heat back onto the vines tonight after you leave. That thermal mass is the third sun of Lavaux. Count the wall courses: each layer represents someone's work, carried uphill, stacked to hold a terrace that still produces wine today.

   🔄 BACKUP: To taste Dezaley without buying a full bottle, the Lavaux Vinorama in Rivaz (the next step, 10 minutes east) has the most comprehensive Dezaley tasting flight in the region.

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5. 🍷 5

   Sample 300 Lavaux Wines at the Only Place They're All Together

   wine $$

   This is the only place on earth with wines from all 14 Lavaux appellations in one room — 300 bottles including rare single-vineyard Dezaley and Calamin Grand Crus that never appear outside Switzerland. The CHF 49 tour includes a cellar visit, commented tasting of 6 wines (3 cellar whites + 3 Chasselas from different terroirs), and the film 'One Year of a Winegrower.' The terroir flight is the centrepiece: side-by-side Chasselas from Calamin, Dezaley and Saint-Saphorin, each 3-5km apart, each completely different. Lavaux Vinorama (Route du Lac 2, 1071 Rivaz) sits on the lakeside road with vineyards rising above it, lake behind it. Book the wine tour in advance for groups of 5+ from November-April; walk-in available in high season. Ask the guide specifically: 'Show me Calamin clay versus Dezaley limestone in the glass.' Walk 5 minutes uphill from the Vinorama to find the Conservatoire Mondial du Chasselas — a 4,500m2 garden Domaine Louis Bovard donated in 2010, housing 19 varieties of Chasselas including red and pink ones almost nobody has tasted.

   🔄 BACKUP: If Vinorama is closed, Domaine Louis Bovard (the same family) is immediately nearby and operates the Conservatoire above the village — free to walk through year-round.

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6. ⛰️ 6

   Claim Your Third Village Tasting Above the Roman Ruins

   adventure $

   The Church of Saint Saphorin (built 1530-36) stands on a 1st-century Roman villa — archaeologists found a Roman milestone dated 53 CE directly beneath it. Wine has been made on this hillside for at least 2,000 years without a stop. Saint-Saphorin AOC Chasselas is distinctly lighter and fresher than Calamin or Dezaley — the terroir here gives the wine a salty mineral edge, the difference in soil and altitude unmistakable if you've tasted the other villages first. Arrive at Saint-Saphorin (1071 Saint-Saphorin) by hiking the full terrace trail from Lutry (~4 hours, 11km) or take the train from Lausanne or Vevey to Saint-Saphorin station. If The Cellar of Wine Makers of St-Saphorin (L'espace de la papille, Chemin Neuf 1, open May-November, Friday and Saturday 5-8pm) is open, ask for Saint-Saphorin AOC and compare it mentally to the Calamin you tasted in Epesses. After the cellar, walk to the lakeside waterfront — the panorama looking west along the full arc of Lavaux terraces is the close of the three-village challenge.

   🔄 BACKUP: If the cellar is not open (weekday, or outside May-November), the Auberge de Saint-Saphorin restaurant pours Saint-Saphorin AOC by the glass (CHF 8-12).

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Insider Tips

• ✦

  Start from Lutry and hike to Rivaz via Saint-Saphorin for the classic route

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  Caves Ouvertes (Open Cellars) weekend in May offers rare access to private domains

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  Collect stamps at each village cellar for a special souvenir certificate