The Keeper of the Stone Walls: Florian Besse & Plan-Cerisier
High above Martigny, where the Rhône valley bends toward the Great St. Bernard, the Besse family has farmed terraced vineyards for four generations — and Florian Besse now stewards 4.5 hectares of vines worked entirely by hand, on dry-stone walls older than the family itself. Certified organic since the conversion completed in the early 2020s, with a natural, biodynamic wing led by Mélanie Besse.
Origin — Four Generations Above the Bend of the Rhône
The hamlet of Plan-Cerisier sits on the heights of Martigny-Croix, on the right bank of the Rhône where the valley narrows toward the Alps. It is vertiginous country — terraces stacked on terraces, stitched together by dry-stone walls built generations ago, every vine reachable only by hand and by foot. This is where the Besse family has made wine for four generations, and where Florian Besse — propriétaire-encaveur — now leads the cellar.
The estate's creed is continuity with conscience. Being a grower and winemaker remains, in the family's own words, a great privilege that inspires respect, commitment, and expertise at every stage — from protecting the heritage of the grape varieties to preserving the delicate balance of the ecosystem across the whole property. That conscience had a deadline: the conversion to Bio Suisse certification, completed in the early 2020s across the estate's vines.
But the family story has a second, freer thread. Mélanie Besse — the natural-wine wing of the house — works biodynamically, sometimes "aided by Marie-Thérèse," as the trade press notes with a wink: Marie-Thérèse Chappaz, the pioneer of Swiss biodynamics and the region's quiet gravitational center. Her cuvée, the Fendant spontané Mélanie, won an award in 2023 and announced the direction: heritage farming, spontaneously fermented wine.
The Place — Terraces, Walls & Eleven Grapes
Between Martigny-Combe and Martigny, on slopes that drop toward the Rhône, the estate's 4.5 hectares catch the generous Valais sunshine from morning to evening — with the valley's famous views as compensation for the labor. The vineyards are worked entirely by hand: no machine climbs these walls.
Organic Across the Estate
The conversion to Bio Suisse certification was "an essential goal" for the family — achieved in the early 2020s and now covering the whole property. The commitment runs deeper than the label: protecting heritage, preserving the authenticity of the varieties, and ensuring the delicate balance of the ecosystem and biodiversity throughout the estate.
The Mélanie Method
Within the organic estate, Mélanie Besse pushes further: biodynamic practice in the spirit of Marie-Thérèse Chappaz, spontaneous fermentations, and a "Nature" range that includes an oak-aged Pinot Noir Nature. Where Florian's cellar honors four generations of Valaisan craft, Mélanie's wing asks what the next four might taste like.
Eleven Varieties
The range keeps the full Valaisan palette alive: Fendant (Chasselas), Petite Arvine, Ermitage (Marsanne), Johannisberg (Sylvaner), and Malvoisie for the whites; Gamay, Syrah, Pinot Noir, Cornalin, Diolinoir, and Gamaret for the reds — plus rosés from Pinot Noir or Gamay, a red assemblage, sweet wine, and a sparkling. Diversity as heritage.
Three Ranges, One Farm
The cellar bottles in three tiers: Origine for the classic, approachable line; Sélection for the more ambitious cuvées; and Nature for Mélanie's low-intervention experiments — including a pét-nat rosé de Gamay. It is a pragmatic architecture: something for the everyday table, something for the cellar, something for the curious.
Winemaking — Respect, Commitment, Expertise
The Besse cellar philosophy begins in the family's own triad: respect, commitment, expertise. Respect for the heritage — the walls, the varieties, the four generations of accumulated knowledge; commitment at every stage, from winter pruning to bottling; expertise applied with restraint, so that the wine tastes of Plan-Cerisier rather than of technique.
The Mélanie wing sharpens that restraint into a method. Fermentations are spontaneous, driven by indigenous yeasts; the Pinot Noir Nature rests in oak; the pét-nats ferment in bottle with nothing added — no selected yeasts, no corrections, no makeup. The point is not fashion but fidelity: to let the terraces speak without a filter.
What holds the two wings together is hospitality. The cellar door is the estate's second craft: tastings are personal, by small group and appointment, partage-first — "le plaisir naît du partage," the pleasure is born of sharing. In a family cellar above Martigny, the winemaking and the welcome are the same gesture, repeated four generations deep.
The Wines — Three Ranges from One Slope
Eleven grape varieties organized into three tiers: Origine for daily drinking, Sélection for the cellar, Nature for the spontaneous experiments. Everything grown on the terraces above Martigny, everything sold with a story.
Fendant de Plan-Cerisier
The white spine — Chasselas from the family wallsThe estate's calling card: Fendant grown on terraced slopes above Martigny, mineral and dry, with the gentle almond bitterness good Chasselas carries. The everyday ambassador for the hamlet — pour it cold with raclette and let the walls do the talking.
Fendant Spontané Mélanie
The award-winner — spontaneously fermented FendantMélanie Besse's signature: Fendant fermented wild, with no added yeast, in the biodynamic spirit of Marie-Thérèse Chappaz. Awarded in 2023, it is the estate's argument that Switzerland's humblest grape, treated seriously, can outshine grander names. The bottle that announced the Nature range.
Diolinoir de Plan-Cerisier
The heritage red — the cross that carries CornalinDiolinoir — the Swiss crossing of Diolle and Robin Noir — from the estate's oldest terraces, made with the Rémy-and-Florian collaboration that anchors the range. Dark-fruited, peppered, built for the cellar: a heritage variety kept alive by a family that refuses to simplify its vineyards.
The Nature Wing & Pét-Nats
The experiments — Pinot Noir Nature, Petnat Rosé de GamayThe cellar's avant-garde: Pinot Noir Nature raised in oak cask; a pétillant naturel rosé de Gamay fermented in bottle; small lots, spontaneous ferments, nothing added. Small volumes, quick sellouts — the range that keeps four generations honest.
Legacy — Four Generations, One Conversion
The Besse legacy is continuity under pressure. Mountain terraces are expensive to farm and easy to abandon — and across the Valais, thousands of hectares of walled vineyard have been given back to scrub. By keeping 4.5 hectares in production entirely by hand, converting the whole estate to Bio Suisse, and raising a fifth generation around the cellar, the family keeps a piece of the Valaisan landscape alive that machines cannot reach.
The second legacy is the quiet bridge the estate builds between two wine cultures. Florian's cellar speaks the language of the classical Valais — Fendant, Cornalin, Syrah, the shared cellar traditions — while Mélanie's Nature wing converses fluently with the natural-wine world, schooled in the orbit of Marie-Thérèse Chappaz. One address, both dialects; the terraces as common ground.
And the legacy is hospitality as heritage. The cellar door at Plan-Cerisier — tastings by appointment, small groups, the family's own words of welcome — is how four generations of knowledge gets passed on: glass by glass, visitor by visitor, season by season. The walls hold the warmth; the family holds the door.