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  • The brisolée is born with the harvest

The brisolée is born with the harvest

Harvests leave a strong mark in the memories of oldtimers, as a time for rejoicing yet a time of fatigue. Trails were long and tiring in this countryside where vine parcels were scattered around and where some farmers were agricultural nomads who moved between plain and mountain. Valais doesn’t have grand harvest festivals. But the intense activity around cellars leads to several festive local customs.

A between-seasons meal

This is the case for brisolêe, a dish of chestnuts roasted over an open fire, with cheese; it became a tradition starting in the 1960s in the Martigny-Fully region. Cafés located near vineyards put together a meal to mark the change from the season of bounty – fresh products (chestnuts, figs, grapes, pears, summer cheeses, grape must, young wine) to winter. Everyone eats indoors after roasting the chestnuts outside; wine and older cheese is served with produce from the current year. This tradition spreads throughout Valais at the end of the 20th century to such as extent that it is no longer limited to the contexts of the grape harvest and chestnut production areas of St Gingolph and Fully.

Other customs linked to the harvest include: kissing the woman harvesting who overlooked one bunch; the four o’clock snack shared along the wall of the vineyard; meals organized by some families and companies as a way of thanking the grape pickers.

Source: Histoire de la Vigne et du Vin en Valais, «Le temps des vendanges», Isabelle Raboud, ethnologist. 

Step into the memory of the Switzerland’s largest wine region! The information that you will find on these pages comes from the book "Histoire de la vigne et du vin en Valais, des origines à nos jours", a reference work that brings together the most recent scientific discoveries about the fine wines of Valais and their rich past.

Order the book

Musée du Vin - Rue Ste Catherine 6 - 3960 Sierre | tél. +41 27 456 35 25 | contact@museeduvin-valais.ch

une création bebold

  • F
  • D
  • E
  • Home
  • Exhibitions and Trail
    • Permanent exhibition
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  • Schools
  • The Museum
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    • Collections
    • Historical
    • Organization
    • Infos pratiques
  • History of wine
    • From its origins to today
    • History of grape varieties
    • Did you know?
  • Support
  • Shop
  • Media
    • Documents for media
    • Archives
    • Press rewiew
  • Information