1000: Rise of the vineyards
The vines are organized as ensembles and protected, with some of them surrounded by clos, or walls, and featuring wine presses. They belong to lords – nobles and religious orders) who turn over to farm families the work of cultivating the grapes in return for an annual stipend. Wine, considered to be a basic food, was used to quench workers’ and owners’ thirst. By 1300 the upper Rhone valley vineyards already had the dimensions found in the 19th century.
Stone tower among the vines, Sion. Photo R Schmid, Médiathèque Valais-Martigny