MARIE-THÉRÈSE CHAPPAZ

Winemaking wasn’t Marie-Thérèse’s first career choice. At 17, she was on track to become a midwife, but a short spell of hospital work made her think twice. The following year, her father gifted her a small plot of land in Valais and she soon discovered her love for the Alpine terroir.

The dirt was barely under her nails before Marie-Thérèse knew what she wanted to plant. Although her father wasn’t a winemaker, she’d grown up around wine and knew her palate was good.

What started as a half-acre plot in 1978 has now grown a hundredfold — and self-taught Marie-Thérèse has proved herself to be a renegade superstar of the Swiss winemaking community. She has has grown an indomitable reputation, not being afraid to work her magic with native grapes that have fallen out of favour with other vintners.

An early adopter of biodynamic winemaking practices, MarieThérèse produces wines you’re unlikely to find outside Switzerland. Of the 70,000 bottles she makes a year, half are sold at her rustic cellar door, where visitors can do tastings among the vines. Her range includes Pinots, one of Valais’ signature cool-climate grapes, and native grape varieties including Petite Arvine, Cornalin, Humagne Rouge and, as of this year, Completer.

Marie-Thérèse uses altitude, shade and soil changes across different vineyard plots to engineer her wines. “For me, the balance is good,” she says. chappaz.ch

Wine tasting in the vineyardrich region of Sierre Clockwise from below: MarieThérèse Chappaz; Charcuterie and cheese pairing in the Valais village of Varen; vines growing on the slopes around the Valais town of Martigny-Combe