Lavaux and the (Alpine) Landscape

17 February 2021

The Rhône glacier made morainal deposits on the molasses and pudding stone, creating what is now Lake Geneva (Lac Léman) and fertile soil on the hills.

Five thousand years ago, the first people setlled in Lavaux. Wine growing began in Roman times. Monks cleared the steepest slopes in order to build terraces in the twelfth and thirteen centuries. Over time, area farmers acquired the estates prevously held by the Chuch and local nobility.

Since then, generations of traditional winegrowers have shaped the unique landscape that stretches from Lausanne to Vevey.

The Fête des Vignerons celebrates and commemorates this cultural-history of Lavaux once in a generation.

Today, this cultural landscape still shrives, encompassing not only fourteen beautiful villages and small towns and the largest vineyards of Switzerland, but also the carefully maintained landscape and buildings on the shores of the lake and with a magnificent view of the Alps.

(Further information and source: www.lavaux-unesco.ch)