Rolle, the Pearl of Lake Geneva, hosts since 2021 DiVINes!, the Swiss Women Winemakers' Fair

As wine merchants, vineyard owners, winemakers or oenologists, more and more women in Switzerland have chosen the world of wine for love of the profession or for reasons of lineage.

Passionate and involved, they work on different terroirs and vinify many grape varieties to produce wines that resemble them, in an environmentally friendly way. 

Women are also renowned for their wine tasting skills; many wish to discover the diversity of wines, in particular those made by women, and display strong choices.

DiVINes! the Swiss Women Winemakers' Fair, is part of an enabling environment for developing Swiss wine producers and consumers.

Guest of honour :

Mayra Saillen, from the canton of Vaud in Provence

Mayra Saillen, our guest of honour for 2024, is a Swiss oenologist who trained at the Haute-Ecole de Changins and travelled the world before settling in Provence, in Simiane-la-Rotonde to be precise. With her husband, she acquired Jas de L'Agachet, a former sheepfold converted into a small farm where they cultivate 15 hectares of vines, olive groves, truffle fields and cereals.

Situated on the high plateaux of Provence, the aim of the estate is to revive mixed farming at altitude, which has a bright future in the face of global warming. As farmer-winemakers, they work the land and the plants together with love and respect for organic and biodynamic farming, a guarantee of the preservation of nature and biodiversity.

As for the vines, they have been working a plot of 55-year-old Carignan vines in Saint-Saturnin-lès-Apt for the last 2 years. Mayra will be presenting her first vintage, 2023, released this spring. The family's vineyards also include 2 hectares of traditional grape varieties (Grenache, Cinsaut, Mourvèdre, Carignan, Clairette), rare varieties (Counoise, Tibouren, Bourboulenc) and endangered varieties (Téoulier, Bouteillan blanc).

Olive oil is also at the heart of their production, with 500 olive trees, 10% of which are over 100 years old and survivors of the great frosts of 1956-1958.