The Terraces Above the Rhône: Florian & Mélanie Besse at Plan-Cerisier
In the hamlet of Plan-Cerisier, high above Martigny, a family has farmed the same sun-drenched terraces for four generations — 4.5 hectares of dry-stone-walled vineyards worked entirely by hand, certified Bio Suisse and Demeter, and a quietly revolutionary "Nature" line of spontaneous, unsulfated wines led by œnologue Mélanie Besse.
For four generations, the Besse family has tended vines in Plan-Cerisier, a hamlet perched above the bend of the Rhône at Martigny. Today Florian Besse manages the family estate — a producer and grower, in the estate's words, "a great privilege that inspires respect, commitment and expertise at every stage." His arrival, together with œnologue Mélanie Besse, has marked a new chapter: one that pairs four generations of inherited terraces with a fresh conviction about how wine should be made.
Theirs is not a story of starting from zero but of deliberately changing course. In 2021 the estate converted to Bio Suisse — "an essential goal," the family says — and went further still, earning Demeter biodynamic certification. The cuvées that best express the new direction carry the name of the woman behind them: Fendant spontané Mélanie, spontaneously fermented and bottled without a trace of added sulfur, took a medal at the Sélection des Vins du Valais 2024 and announced the estate's new identity to the canton.
The Place — Dry-Stone Walls & Generous Sun
High above Martigny, the vineyards of the Florian Besse winery take full advantage of the generous Valais sunshine, revealing glorious views down the Rhône valley below. The family has made wines here for four generations from grapes grown on terraced vineyards stitched together with dry-stone walls — the defining architecture of Valaisan mountain viticulture.
The Terraces of Martigny-Combe
The vines cling to the steep slopes of Martigny-Combe and Martigny, where the sun strikes hard and the stone walls store its warmth deep into the evening. It is demanding, beautiful ground — every vine approachable only on foot, every terrace a small act of masonry as much as agriculture.
Eleven Varieties
Fendant, Petite Arvine, Johannisberg, Malvoisie and Ermitage on the white side; Cornalin, Diolinoir, Gamaret, Gamay, Pinot Noir and Syrah on the red — plus rosés, a red assemblage, sweet late-harvest wines and sparkling. For the Besse family, protecting this heritage and preserving the authenticity of the grape varieties is the whole point.
Bio Suisse & Demeter
Certified organic since the 2021 conversion and biodynamic under Demeter, the estate watches over the delicate balance of the ecosystem and biodiversity across the whole farm. Sustainable development is not a slogan here but a conviction — and the certification bodies simply keep score.
All by Hand
The 4.5 hectares are worked entirely by hand — from pruning through harvest, on terraces too steep for machines. Combined with organic and biodynamic farming, it makes the cave one of the most hands-on small estates in the central Valais.
Winemaking — Tradition, Terroir & a Nature Line
The estate's motto could not be clearer: "the explosion of flavours in respect of tradition and terroir." The classic range is precisely that — AOC Valais wines from Fendant to Cornalin, made with the polish of four generations of accumulated cellar knowledge, offered at prices that keep them on local tables.
But alongside the classics runs the line that makes the cave a destination for natural-wine drinkers from far beyond Martigny. The "Nature" cuvées — Fendant Nature, Fendant spontané Mélanie, Petite Arvine Nature — are spontaneously fermented on indigenous yeasts and bottled entirely without added sulfites. It is Mélanie Besse's œnological signature: her formal training applied to the radical end of the cellar, proving that unsulfated Chasselas and Petite Arvine can carry both purity and precision.
The two ranges coexist deliberately. The classic wines fund and anchor the estate; the Nature cuvées push it forward — and the family pours both side by side at the cave door in Plan-Cerisier, letting visitors taste the same terroir with and without the safety net. That transparency is rare, and it is the estate's most quietly radical act.
The Wines — The Classics & the Nature Line
Two ranges, one hillside. The classic "de Plan-Cerisier" cuvées honour four generations of Valais tradition; the Nature cuvées strip everything back to spontaneous fermentation and zero added sulfur. Between them: eleven grape varieties, rosés, late-harvest sweet wines and a sparkling.
Fendant spontané Mélanie
The medal-winner — spontaneous Chasselas, unsulfatedThe estate's calling card: Fendant fermented on indigenous yeasts, bottled without a trace of added sulfur, and named for the œnologue who makes it. Sélection des Vins du Valais 2024 medal winner — proof that zero-added-sulfur Chasselas can stand toe to toe with the canton's classics.
Fendant Nature & Fendant les Grépons
The everyday whites — pure Plan-Cerisier ChasselasLes Grépons is the estate's open-armed classic; Nature is its sulfite-free twin. Taste them together and the hillside speaks twice — once through tradition, once through nothing-but-grape.
Petite Arvine de Plan-Cerisier
The noble white — exotic fruit, fine saline finish"A noble white of exception," in the estate's words: a delicate bouquet of exotic fruits and the grape's trademark fine saline note. Also raised in oak for a deeper, barrel-aged edition — and available as an unsulfated Nature cuvée.
Cornalin de Plan-Cerisier
The heritage red — Valais' fierce indigenous grapeA noble, powerful red with a deep garnet robe, dense bouquet and intense fruit — the ancestral grape of the Valais at full tilt, also offered matured in oak casks for extra depth and structure.
Gamay vieilles vignes les Comballes & Friends
The rest of the hillside — old-vine Gamay, Syrah, Diolinoir, rosés, sweet & sparklingOld-vine Gamay from the Comballes plot, Syrah and Diolinoir de Plan-Cerisier, rosés of Pinot Noir and Gamay, late-harvest Malvoisie and a sparkling — the full eleven-variety sweep of a working family estate, poured at the cave from CHF 8 a glass.
Legacy — Keeping the Walls Standing
The first legacy is masonry. Every dry-stone wall on the Plan-Cerisier terraces is a hand-built piece of infrastructure that took generations to raise — and takes constant labour to keep standing. In a valley where flat, mechanisable vineyard land is ever easier to farm, the Besse family's commitment to terraced viticulture is a decision made anew every season: to remain on the hillside, by hand, as four generations did before them.
The second is continuity with a hinge. An estate that converted to Bio Suisse in 2021 and Demeter thereafter, and that bottles unsulfated cuvées under the hand of its œnologue, could easily have burned its bridges with the classic range. Instead the two live side by side — the classic AOC wines paying respect to the past, the Nature line betting on the future — and the family's openness at the cellar door turns every tasting into an argument for both.
The third is local pride. Martigny is a gateway town — to Verbier, to the Great St Bernard, to Italy — and most visitors pass it by. The Besse family offers a reason to stop: a hamlet named for cherry trees, terraces above the Rhône, eleven varieties, and a medal-winning unsulfated Fendant made by a woman with a cellar key and a conviction. That is how a regional wine town becomes a wine destination.