The first traces of viticulture
Wine has been consumed and vines have been cultivated in Valais since the Iron Age, long before Roman times. The first viticulture was likely introduced to our region by our northern Italian and Ticinese neighbors (around 500 BC), who were then under Celtic and Greco-Etruscan influences, with whom the Upper Valais populations of the time maintained close relations. The analysis of plant remains in Lake Montorge attests to viticultural activity between 800 and 600 BC. Grape seeds with their pedicels have also been found at the Gamsen archaeological site during this period. However, archaeologists have found no traces of winemaking. It seems that the wine consumed was imported. Fragments of amphorae testify to the Valaisans’ pronounced taste for Mediterranean wines. Goblets and trottola vases also confirm that wine consumption was integrated into local customs throughout the Iron Age.