Cave des Amandiers - Saillon

About the winery

This is all about creating fine wines from exceptional terroirs, trying to bring out as best as possible the quality of Valais native grape varieties in a genuine way, giving the wine time to mature fully in the dark and cool calm of the cellar.

Alexandre Délétraz's operation is one of the most recently established in Valais, having been set up in 2008, with his first vintage made in a barn, then a tractor garage in Fully. He moved into his new cellar in Saillon in 2011 and although the winemaking facilities are recent, the work essentially remains artisanal.

The vines are cultivated by hand due to the complicated topography of the steep hillsides (5.2 ha), made up of small terraces at altitudes between 450 and 900m. The climate is extraordinarily favourable for the vines, but in order to guarantee outstanding quality and optimum ripeness of the berries at all times, he conducts radical sorting of the harvest. Yields are low and are adapted to the robustness of each plot, to ensure a good concentration of aromas and grape polyphenols.

It's clear that whether in the cellar or the vineyard, the work is done slowly and carefully, taking all the time necessary. The time for meticulously caring for each vine, each bunch—the time, too, to slowly mature the wines, gently, without any brusqueness or imposing constraints on them that prevent the wines from freely expressing their best