Middle Ages
1000-1500: vineyards at the service of nobility, clerics
As of 1000 AD documents show vineyards spread over a large area and viticulture that was truly organized. The vines were no longer in parcels that lacked organization: they were planted in units that were structured and carefully watched. Some were surrounded by walls and had wine presses. By 1300, vineyards in the upper Rhone valley already had the dimension that we see for them in the second half of the 19th century. The bubonic plague that swept through and caused heavy damage in Valais in 1350 does not appear to have had a major impact on the vineyards.
1000-1500: Vineyards to serve the lords
The real owners of this land were nobles and religious institutions, but they rarely worked the soil themselves. In return for the payment of an annual stipend, farming families were allowed to hold and cultivate the wines of these “seigneurs”.
Viticulture thus became part of a subsistance mixed farming system, with wine considered to be a food. Production mainly provided for the annual needs of a family, a household or a congregation. Commercial trading was almost non-existent.
Bibliothèque Supersaxo, S 109. "The six ages of the world”, parchment paper roll, 14th century.