The road that snakes up from Visp to Visperterminen provides glimpses of some of Switzerland’s most extravagantly beautiful and challenging vineyard landscapes. For the fit and ambitious, there’s the option of arriving on foot via the famous Heidaweg, a vineyard trail that starts in the rabbit warren of streets in the old town and works its way steadily up through terraced vineyards braced by a network of dry-stone walls to the village perched high above the valley at 1,370 metres.
Just below the village is the St Jodern Kellerei, named after the earliest bishop of the Valais and patron saint of local winegrowers. This respected wine cooperative was formed in 1979 in response to a serious threat that these high-altitude vineyards might gradually be abandoned. Many of the part-time growers whose vines were planted here were beginning to lose heart at the sheer magnitude and difficulty of their wine-tending task. Today the cooperative is thriving, with almost 600 member-growers who between them farm 45 hectares. What is most encouraging is that young people are joining or taking over viticulture from their parents and continuing to support the cooperative.
The purpose-built, modern winery building combines local materials to great effect: stone and wood abound, while the roof bristles with row upon row of photovoltaic panels sticking up like spines on a stickleback. They take advantage of the abundant alpine sunshine to generate electricity for the winery, and generally cover about 85 percent of the winery’s needs.
Standing in the vineyards surrounded by this extraordinary landscape, you can understand why so many growers were tempted to give up, and why it was so important to provide incentives for them to stay. The sheer jaw-dropping steepness of the slopes is one of the biggest challenges. No mechanisation is possible; every single task must be carried out by hand. Apart from a single 25-hectare holding called Riebe, plots are tiny and irregularly distributed, and much time is wasted getting from one plot to another. And that’s before we even get onto the traditional dry-stone walls, which need constant maintenance.
The Kellerei makes a range of wines, both white and red, some monovarietal and others blended, for every budget. All are labelled with a striking image of the famous vineyards with a backdrop of snowcapped peaks. However, given the name of the vineyard trail as well as the village’s sobriquet, Heidadorf (Heida village), it’s no surprise to find that Heida rules here. The Savagnin Blanc grape from the French Jura found its home in the Valais some centuries ago and does particularly well in the schist and sand of the steep hillsides and at these commanding heights.
There are four different ones to choose from: Heida Visperterminen is a straightforward interpretation of the grape, which makes an excellent aperitif; Heida Melodie has a little residual sugar, which gives it extra curves; Heida Barrique is aged in new and used oak barrels for twelve months; and the uncontested star of the show is Heida Veritas, the wine that represents the cooperative in the Mémoire des Vins Suisses.
What makes Veritas unique, explains the cooperative’s director Michael Hock, is the fact that the vines that give rise to this wine are over one hundred years old. Somehow – and this remains something of a mystery – they did not succumb to the phylloxera plague which laid waste to most of Europe’s vineyards at the end of the 19th century. While almost all European grape species (Vitis vinifera) today are grafted onto American rootstocks, these hardy survivors are still growing on their original, pre-phylloxera rootstocks.
Veritas is pure gold with rich citrus and tropical fruit aromas, intensely complex with a lingering finish. Michael recommends keeping it for at least five years, but this is a thoroughbred wine with considerable pace, which will continue to age beautifully.
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ADDRESS: Unterstalden 2 3932 Visperterminen CONTACT: Tel. 027 948 43 48 |
WINES TO LOOK OUT FOR: Heida |
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info@jodernkellerei.ch |
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Price range 15 to 43 SFr. |
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HIGHLIGHTS: Wines are available online or at their shop. Tastings and cellar visits are held during office hours or by appointment for groups over 10 people. Heidaweg vineyard trail from Visp to Visperterminen |
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