Gamay grown at 820 meters above sea level on the steep, rocky slopes of Fully. Fragrant red cherries, crushed raspberries, and a little wild spice, with an earthy, stony character underneath. Matthias gives the grapes a short, gentle maceration to bring out fine tannins and vibrant acidity. 12% abv.

Matthias Orsett

Matthias Orsett is a French winemaker who has found his place among the steep, terraced vineyards of Switzerland's Valais region. Originally from the suburbs of Paris, Matthias passed through the worlds of medical technology and electronic music before an encounter with Pierre Overnoy and Emmanuel Houillon in the Jura helped set him on an entirely new course.

Matthias's connection to Switzerland began years before he ever considered becoming a winemaker. After studying marketing, he spent seven years working for a medical technology company that offered him a position in Switzerland. He accepted, gradually made the country his home, and eventually left the corporate world behind to travel through Latin America and pursue another passion: music. For roughly three years, he worked as a DJ and ran his own record label, becoming involved with a circle of friends in Switzerland's growing natural wine community. When COVID brought his music career to a halt, he found himself increasingly drawn toward the vineyards.

While harvesting with Anthony Tortul of La Sorga, Matthias met a fellow harvest worker who invited him to finish the season at Les Valseuses. Eager to learn more, he asked for advice over dinner and was encouraged to introduce himself to Pierre Overnoy. He knocked on Pierre's door the following morning and soon found himself working alongside Pierre and Emmanuel Houillon for the year. It was an extraordinary opportunity to learn from two of natural wine's most respected figures, whose patience, attention to detail, and respect for the vineyard helped shape Matthias's own approach to making wine.

After his time in the Jura, Matthias knew he wanted to make wine, but Switzerland was where he wanted to do it. He'd grown attached to the country's mountains, its sunshine, and the possibilities offered by its relatively overlooked vineyards. Returning in the summer of 2021, he spent a season working with Blaise Duboux before friends Yanis Carnal and Felipe Raupp offered him space in their cellar in Saint-Légier. With a place to make wine and access to small parcels of vines, Matthias began building his own project. He eventually settled into the steep vineyards around Fully in the Valais, bringing everything he'd learned in France to a place that had already become home.

Today, Matthias farms approximately 1.3 hectares of vines scattered across steep slopes at elevations ranging from 460 to 870 meters. The terrain is demanding, with shallow, rocky soils over gneiss and granite, and much of the work can only be done by hand. He farms organically, avoids tilling the soil, and uses fermented plant preparations to reduce his reliance on copper and sulfur treatments. It's physically exhausting work, but one he has embraced with dedication.

His methods in the cellar are equally deliberate. Grapes are harvested by hand into small crates, destemmed using a traditional wooden sieve, and pressed with an old Marmonier vertical ratchet press dating back to the early twentieth century. Fermentations begin naturally, without commercial yeasts, and the wines are neither fined nor filtered. Aging takes place in tanks or old Burgundy barrels, sometimes for more than two years. 

Each wine is made with a particular grape variety and vineyard in mind. Matthias works with both traditional Swiss varieties, including Chasselas, Petite Arvine, Gamaret, and Garanoir, and more familiar grapes such as Gamay, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay. His reds are made with gentle macerations and very little extraction, favoring freshness and the natural character of the fruit over heavy tannins or concentration. The whites are often given extended time on their lees, developing texture and depth without sacrificing their Alpine freshness.

There's also a creative side to Matthias's work that extends beyond the vineyards. A passionate music lover and DJ, he's part of a close community of young growers and natural wine enthusiasts who regularly come together to share bottles, music, and ideas. His labels, created by photographer Angélique Stelhi using the cyanotype photographic process, feature plants collected near the vineyards, with a different botanical image representing each vintage. 

What makes Matthias particularly exciting is the combination of old-fashioned craftsmanship and youthful curiosity. He's taken lessons learned from some of the Jura's most influential winemakers and applied them to a mountainous region with its own remarkable grapes and traditions. The production is tiny, the farming is demanding, and the wines are made with an high degree of patience. Matthias is still early in his career, but he's already building something distinctly his own in the Swiss Alps.