Luc Massy

Leaving the charming village of Epesses on the shore road to the west you will find among the vines on the right a 17th century bourgeois house, the seat of the house of Massy. This includes not only the main building but also the Clos du Roux, an extraordinary walled plot. The Massy family took up residence here in the 19th century and owns 8 hectares comprising the Epesses, Saint-Saphorin and Dézaley appellations. The vines are planted on plots that slope steeply at 30 to 60%, which necessitates a lot of manual work. These terraces, bordered by dry stone walls, make up a remarkable site, classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site. As early as the 11th and 12th centuries the Benedictine and Cistercian monks recognised the exceptional soil and climatic conditions and the influence of the lake. The cultivation of Chasselas goes back to the 16th century. This grape is incontestably the ambassador of white wines in the canton of Vaud. It has all the qualities needed in a great wine, particularly the ability faithfully to reproduce the tonality of the soil in which it grows. Luc Massy is a winemaker who enjoys a great reputation not only in this region but throughout the country. His Dézaley Chemin de Fer, the estate's signature wine, brings out the best in this variety. The Epesses from the Clos du Roux is exceptional simply because it is the fruit of a plot over which the Massy family has a monopoly. Farming methods that respect the environment, low yields and rigorous sorting along with a cautious approach to fermentation and ageing lead, year after year, to high quality production.