The Last of the Grapes

There they lie - where they ultimately will nurture the soil that once nurtured them - the grapes that were "left behind."

After a few days of wonderful sunny weather, we have settled into a more typical overcast and wet November.  There is snow on the slopes of the Jura to the northwest.  The Alpine peaks to the southeast reach proudly towards the sky, the newest snowfalls smoothing the rugged crags and turning them into things of beauty.

The vines, that were ripely green and thick even two weeks ago, are now brown and crumpled - where there are leaves left at all.  Now that the leaves have fallen, remnants of unpicked grapes remain attached to the branches, shrivelled and unsightly.

The winter pruning has begun.

Of all the branches that bore grapes on each vine this season, only one branch is chosen to continue.  The others are clipped and carried away, to be ground into mulch to replenish the perennially generous soil.  The chosen branch is carefully wound around the twine that will guide it into the next season.

There are still quite a few rows that remain to be pruned.  All the work in this vineyard is done by hand.

Les Frères Dutruy (the Dutruy Brothers), from the nearby village of Founex, who work these vines together with those from several other small wine domains, have consistently been nominated and won prizes for their wines.   They were among the prize-winners again in 2010.

Those who live outside Switzerland rarely get the chance even to sample these lovely wines that feature so much in my village routine.  Fine wine is one of the few bargains to be found in Switzerland.   The reason that Swiss wines are not well known outside the country is because those of us who live here realize how fortunate we are.  By the time we all buy them, there is virtually nothing left for export markets.