Vaud, Given Time: Yanis Carnal & Felipe Raupp
From a shared cellar in Saint-Légier, two friends from Lausanne turn organic and biodynamic grapes into vivid, zero-additive wines — destemmed by hand, pressed slowly, raised without makeup and released only when they are ready.
Tyalo Tyalo began around a table before it began in a cellar. Yanis Carnal and Felipe Raupp are two friends from Lausanne whose paths run through cooking, graphic design, restaurants and natural-wine events. They developed a shared taste for natural wine in 2016; Yanis went on to organise tastings and found Salon Desalpes, while Felipe brought his own restaurant world with him.
The practical first step came in 2020, when they made two micro-cuvées with Lavaux winegrower Jean-Christophe Piccard. In 2021 they established their own winery in Saint-Légier with fellow winemaker Matthias Orsett. Neither came from a wine-growing family, so sharing a cellar, labour and expensive equipment was not a romantic choice — it was how the project became possible.
That DIY reality still shapes the wines. Grapes are destemmed by hand through a sieve and pressed with a mechanical ratchet press. A 2024 crowdfunding campaign sought to replace and divide shared equipment, improve the cellar floor and reduce the daily burden of moving tonnes by hand. The romance is in the glass; the work behind it is distinctly physical.
The Place — Vaud Cellar, Valais Vines
Tyalo is based in Vaud, but its current map extends into Valais. Raisin describes the project as primarily négoce: fruit is bought and harvested from established organic and biodynamic plots, while the pair are also learning to farm a small vineyard themselves.
Saint-Légier, Vaud
The cellar sits in Saint-Légier, above the eastern end of Lake Geneva. It is the operational heart of the project — the place where friends share knowledge and labour, and where manual equipment keeps the scale deliberately human.
Chamoson, Altitude & Schist
The domaine describes a Pinot Noir parcel at roughly 800 metres in Chamoson, planted on schist soils. Agata comes from Chamoson: six days of maceration, destemmed fruit and an élevage split between stainless steel and barrique.
Fully & Savièse
Kiwano’s Chasselas grows in Fully; Telline’s Chardonnay comes from Savièse. Papalo’s Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris are also linked to Fully. These named places keep the range grounded in specific plots rather than a generic Swiss blend.
From Buyers to Growers
With their partner Marie-Jo, Yanis and Felipe are learning and working across around 7,500 m² of organically grown vines. The remaining fruit comes from certified organic plots they return to each year, preserving continuity from vintage to vintage.
Winemaking — Low-Tech, Zero-Zero, Precise
The cellar method is radically simple and labour-intensive. Every grape is destemmed by hand using a sieve; every juice is pressed with a mechanical ratchet press. Fermentations are spontaneous, with no starter culture, no added oenological inputs and no added sulphites. The wines are bottled without fining or filtration.
Most cuvées are single-parcel and single-varietal, raised in old barrels whenever possible to avoid marking the wine with new oak. But the recipe never becomes dogma: Kiwano ages in fibreglass, Telline splits between fibreglass and barrique, and Agata uses stainless steel and barrique. Papalo, a Pinot Noir–Pinot Gris blend, is the joyful exception to the single-variety rule.
Time is the final ingredient. Retailers describe roughly ten months in barrique followed by the same amount of time in bottle. That patience is part of the pair’s pursuit of clarity: natural wine without the easy excuse of funk, held back until the edges settle and the parcel comes into focus.
The Wines — A Patient, Parcel-Led Spectrum
Chasselas, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and a Pinot blend show the range at its clearest. Each of these wines is unfined, unfiltered and made without added sulphites. Prices and technical details are snapshots from current retailer listings; availability varies by vintage.
Papalo 2023
Pinot Noir & Pinot Gris — 11.5% volEarly-harvested Pinot Noir for juice and Pinot Gris for pep, hand-destemmed and ratchet-pressed. Redcurrant, raspberry and vine peach in a fresh, dry, joyfully acidic frame. Listed at CHF 29.00.
Kiwano 2022
Chasselas from Fully — 10% vol40% direct press and 60% “trempage”, fully destemmed for twelve days, with two rackings and fibreglass élevage. Fresh, light and complex — Chasselas with an extra pulse. Listed at CHF 25.00.
Telline 2022
Chardonnay from Savièse — 12.5% volA 24-hour maceration, two rackings and maturation on fine lees in fibreglass and barrique. Fresh and crisp, with the lees work providing contour without turning the wine heavy. Listed at CHF 26.50.
Agata 2022
Pinot Noir from Chamoson — 13% volSix days of destemmed maceration, two rackings and ageing in stainless steel and barrique. A rich but light-bodied Pinot with cherries and strawberries, shaped by Chamoson’s high, schistous parcel. Listed at CHF 32.50.
Why They Matter — Patience Over Haste
The first significance is the route in. Tyalo Tyalo did not begin with inherited vines or a formal estate; it began with restaurants, events, friendships and two experimental cuvées. Sharing a cellar with another young winemaker turned that experience into a viable production space.
The second is patience as a business decision. Holding wine back for roughly twenty months ties up money, space and nerve — especially for a tiny independent project. Their crowdfunding appeal made the tension explicit, but so did the eventual release of the 2022 wines: time was not going to be sacrificed for speed.
The third is precision. Zero-zero winemaking is only the starting point; the goal is energetic, articulate wines rather than funk for its own sake. Parcels, grape varieties and vessels remain legible, and the labels carry the same independent visual spirit as the wines inside them.