Visiting the Cave de la Charrue Winery in Commugny, Switzerland

Earlier this month, I went on a 4-day trip to Switzerland with the Switzerland Tourism Board, exploring the Fribourg and Vaud regions of the country. This was my third visit to the country and all I can say is I LOVE Switzerland! The country has so much to offer to its visitors whether it is Summer or Winter. Our trip was filled with wine, chocolates, good food, fun activities, and amazing scenery. I will be sharing a post soon on what we got up to in the 4 days we were there but in the meantime, I want to share with you about our visit to La Cave de la Charrue, a wine estate in Commugny (in the Vaud region).

History of La Cave de la Charrue

La Cave de la Charrue has belonged to the Hermanjat family since 1872. The Hermanjat family first settled down in Commugny in the 1760s. And they have combined their skills at winemaking & viticulture with new techniques while still respecting the traditions to achieve products of the best quality. Over the years, the wine estate has seen a number of changes, adapting to the changing technologies and evolving markets but its ethos (sustaining local relationships, producing good wines and passing on the winemaking skills to the next generation) still remains the same. In 1996 a former stable (dating back to 1910) was turned into a winery where the winemaking process takes place nowadays.

At La Cave de la Charrue, the winemaking expertise has been passed down through the centuries, from generation to generation, and currently, Denis Hermanjat and his brother Luke Hermanjat are involved in charge of the winemaking and the crops & vines respectively. Both have inherited the passion for vine-growing and winemaking from previous generations.

The Wines

A number of grape varieties are grown on around 9 hectares of vineyards including, Chasselas, Riesling-Sylvaner, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Meunieur, Gamay, Pinot Noir, Gamaret, Garanoir, Dunkelfelder. Depending on the vintage, around 50,000 litres of wine are bottled every year at La Cave de la Charrue.

Wine Tasting at La Cave de la Charrue

Our visit to La Cave de la Charrue included a quick tour of some parts of the estate with the very affable Jana Luthi, who is the Event Manager at the wine estate, showing us some of the equipment used in the wine production. Jana also talked to us about the history of the estate, the wine production process and La Cave de la Charrue's place in the wine-growing community of Commugny.

We then had a chance to walk through the vines with the tour ending in a section of the vineyard where a tasting had been arranged for us.

Denis Hermanjat

We savoured three wines during the wine tasting session - Chasselas, Sauvignon Blanc, and Rose de Gamay. My favourite was Chasselas which I found to be a very fresh and delicate wine - not very acidic and not too intense either. A very fine, subtle wine! The other wines were amazing too and Denis, who is in charge of the winemaking at the estate, was a great host.

The whole visit was fascinating and fun. And my appreciation of wine has changed after the visit to the vineyard. If you are heading to Switzerland, and want to visit La Cave de la Charrue, their contact details are below.

Cave de la Charrue | Route de Genève 2, 1291 Commugny
Phone: +41 22 776 23 26
W: www.cavedelacharrue.ch

Interested in more Switzerland content? Check out the top things to see and do in Lausanne.