In Valais, the small world of wines resembles that of Don Camillo. Along the river, everyone knows each other, they quarrel, they make up over a glass... Almost nothing is secret for long and yet a mystery remains: what made Dominique Giroud?

The journey of this Chamoson local is exceptional. At the age of 21, with a diploma in oenology in his pocket, he joined forces with his father Frederic to create F&D Giroud wines. The duo had one and a half hectares of vines and no cellar. That was in 1992. Thirteen years later, the area of operations has stretched to 28 hectares. Renamed Giroud Wines, the company of small beginnings henceforth follows closely on the heels of the valaisan bigwigs Provins and Rouvinez-Orsat.

In the beginning, almost all the bottles were intended for a private clientele. Today, nearly 95% of the wines are sold to the catering business or through distributors. Things continue to change as a massive real estate project is about to get off the ground. A complex combining an area for sampling with a production line will, from 2007, replace the current site, which is not equipped to receive visitors.

by Alexandre Truffer, ©RomanDuVin.ch 2007