A Cosmos of Chasselas: Roxane Fenal & InterCellar
On the sunlit slopes of La Côte above Lake Geneva, Roxane Fenal makes micro-négoce wines from the grapes of stellar organic growers in Féchy and Mont-sur-Rolle — spontaneously fermented, aged 11 to 22 months in oak, bottled by gravity, never filtered, never fined. The Chasselas Nature took Best Natural White at BioVino 2026. The whole project speaks in the language of space: planets, galaxies, and dégustations intercellaires.
InterCellar is a micro-négoce — a one-woman maison de vin founded in September 2021 that buys grapes from growers and vinifies them with total cellar discipline. Its explorer is Roxane Fenal, born in Geneva, who after a bachelor in business management at the University of Geneva headed to Bordeaux for a master in Marketing & Management of wines and spirits. There, an internship and a solar encounter with Jean-Michel Comme, then estate manager of Château Pontet-Canet in Pauillac, acted as a big bang: she decided to explore wine from the production side.
She came home to do it, enrolling at Changins in Switzerland for a Bachelor in Viticulture & Oenology, then working in Swiss estates. Those encounters and experiences, she says, formed a nebula — the desire to create her own cosmos of terroir wines, and to share it. InterCellar was born. The graphic universe of the estate, its monochrome labels of stars, roses, vines and dots, was created by the brilliant Laura Cornu.
The Place — The Planets of La Côte
The grapes come from stellar winemakers working principally in the planet-appellations of Féchy and Mont-sur-Rolle, on the La Côte slope between Lausanne and Geneva — with fruit also from Allaman and the wider La Côte appellation. Here Chasselas reigns, but the cooler clay-limestone slopes carry Chardonnay and Sauvignon, and Gamay and Gamaret ripen where the sun holds.
Féchy
One of La Côte's historic communes, giving Chasselas of purity and Sauvignon of nerve. The terroir that anchors the Féchy cuvées — grapes grown biologically, picked by the grower, vinified by InterCellar.
Mont-sur-Rolle
Grand Cru ground of La Côte, its Chardonnay and Gamay among the range's finest reds and whites. The Chasselas Nature that won Best Natural White at BioVino 2026 comes from here.
Allaman & La Côte
Allaman Grand Cru fruit becomes the skin-contact Chasselas Orange; the broader La Côte appellation hosts the Gamaret and Merlot — the red planets of the constellation.
Grown Biologique, Certified Bio Suisse
Every wine is made from organically grown grapes and certified Bio Suisse — the growers do the farming, InterCellar does the waiting.
Cellar — Long Time, Low Intervention, Gravity
The method reads like a manifesto of patience. Fermentations are spontaneous; the wines go into oak barrels and stay: a minimum of 11 months on lees for the whites, 22 months for the reds. No wine is filtered or fined. Bottling is done by gravity, directly from the barrel — no pumping, no agitation.
Sulphur is treated as a tool, not a habit. Added sulphur is reasoned according to the vintage — and some wines carry none at all. The two Nature cuvées, Chasselas Nature and Gamaret Nature, are made entirely without added sulphites: spontaneous fermentation, nothing to hide, a natural deposit possible in the bottle.
Then comes the last discipline: waiting. The wines are held in bottle for several months before release, so that what reaches the glass is ready — assembled, settled, drinking at its opening. The ingredient list on every label is one word: grapes.
The Wines — Nine Cuvées, Two Constellations
The range runs white to red through the planets of La Côte: three Chasselas, an orange, a Chardonnay and a Sauvignon among the whites; Gamay, Gamaret and Merlot among the reds — and a parallel line of Nature cuvées made with zero added sulphur.
Chasselas Mont-sur-Rolle
The flagship white — Grand Cru Chasselas of La CôteThe entry to the cosmos: organic Chasselas from the Grand Cru of Mont-sur-Rolle, spontaneously fermented and raised on lees in oak. Precise, orbiting, unmistakably La Côte.
Chasselas Nature
The award-winner — 11 months on lees, zero sulphitesSpontaneous fermentation, 11 months on lees in 228-litre oak, unfiltered, unfined, no added sulphites — certified Bio Suisse. Named Best Natural White Wine at BioVino 2026.
Chasselas Orange
The skin-contact one — from Allaman Grand CruChasselas vinified as an orange wine from the Allaman Grand Cru terroir — citrus peel, dried herbs and texture: Chasselas remade by maceration.
Chardonnay & Sauvignon
The two varieties beyond ChasselasChardonnay from Mont-sur-Rolle and Sauvignon from Féchy — the galaxy's outer planets, raised the same patient way: spontaneous, on lees, in old oak, bottled by gravity.
Gamay, Gamaret Nature & Merlot
The reds — 22 months in oakGamay from Mont-sur-Rolle; Gamaret Nature from La Côte with zero added sulphur; Merlot completing the trio. All held 22 months in barrel before bottling — the house's deepest expression of patience.
Legacy — From a Bordeaux Big Bang to a Swiss Cosmos
Every legacy has its big bang, and InterCellar's happened in Pauillac. An internship at Château Pontet-Canet, a solar encounter with its estate manager Jean-Michel Comme, and a business student understood that wine would be her life's work — from the production side. What followed was discipline: a master in Bordeaux, a second bachelor at Changins, years in Swiss cellars, and then the courage to build her own cosmos rather than join an existing one.
The second legacy is the micro-négoce itself. By buying organic grapes from stellar growers in Féchy and Mont-sur-Rolle rather than owning vines, InterCellar concentrates everything into the cellar — the long lees ageing, the gravity bottling, the unfiltered honesty — and lets the growers concentrate on farming. It is a division of labour that produces wines of unusual clarity, crowned in 2026 when the Chasselas Nature was named Switzerland's best natural white.
And the legacy is a language. InterCellar speaks of planets, galaxies and intercellar tastings — a playful cosmology for a serious project — and its monochrome labels by Laura Cornu have made the bottles as recognizable on a shelf as the wines are in the glass. Santé, pour une dégustation intercellaire.