Pioneer
He is considered a model winemaker and regularly receives awards: Diego Mathier on oenotourism, Pinot Noir and what he is most looking forward to in the post-pandemic period.
Diego Mathier, you have won numerous industry awards in recent years. On Thursday, you were presented with the “Global best of Wine Tourism” award. What do you do better than other winemakers?
I would say that we do things differently than the others. As far as the wine itself is concerned, our ancestors did a lot of groundwork. To produce good wine, you need good vineyards. Because the wine is made in the vineyard, not in the cellar. But it can be refined and refined in the cellar. Here
we can count on the support of a great team.
You not only offer wines, but also wine tastings and hikes through the vineyards. How important is wine tourism for your business?
We are currently in the process of developing wine tourism in our region. Because we are convinced that guests are more likely to buy wine in places where they spend a nice vacation. You also have to give people ideas about what they can do here. We have put together almost 150 suggestions for our guests – with hikes, bike tours, bars, restaurants and much more. These are all activities that we also enjoy doing as a family. We want our customers to experience more during their stay here than anywhere else.
So is it the individual, personal experience that makes the difference?
Exactly. We can see this in our bed & breakfast, which we opened at the beginning of 2020: We now have guests who have come back several times and have always brought other people with them. Many have come without knowing our wine and have returned home as friends of Salgesch wine. And on the other hand, it is our region and the great offers that we can provide here in every season that are convincing.
Last year’s wine harvest was the weakest since records began. Is that a problem for your business?
Of course, if you have less wine to sell, that’s a big disadvantage. But it would take two really bad years for things to become precarious for us. 2021 was a year that was good in terms of quality but poor in terms of quantity. Of course, we are now hoping that the current year will be better.
How have the last two years of the pandemic affected wine sales?
It wasn’t much worse, just different. We are normally present at trade fairs relatively often, which has of course been completely eliminated. It was a challenge to establish contact with customers in a different way. Our oenotourism concept helped us a lot: People came to Salgesch, stayed here overnight and tasted wine on site. Above all, social media and digital sales channels have of course become more important. But of course I’m really looking forward to the time after the pandemic when we can taste a glass of wine together again and get direct feedback from customers.
No wine festivals, hardly any tourists, fewer sales in the restaurant trade: there was a time when the wine cellars were full and the winegrowers didn’t know what to do with the new wine. Has this problem eased?
Last year, 16.5 million liters of wine were harvested in Valais – in a normal year it would be a good 35 million. There are certainly wineries that had more than enough wine in stock. Our stocks were relatively moderate. It also depends very much on where you sell your wine. We mainly sell to private customers and the restaurant trade. If you sell to wholesalers, there was certainly a bit more pressure.
In this context, it was also discussed whether there are too many wineries and wine producers in Valais. What do you think?
In my opinion, diversity is a beautiful thing. But it is true that it is becoming increasingly difficult for small businesses in the sector. What I really regret is that almost every family in Salgesch used to have their own vines. It was always nice when the whole village was out in the vineyards in the fall. Those days are over. There are already far fewer winegrowers and wineries.
With a good 4700 hectares, a third of Switzerland’s wine-growing area is in Valais. Does Valais have too many vineyards?
No, absolutely not. I think we need a structural change and that we need to increase direct sales and sales to restaurants.
It was also said that there was too much Pinot Noir. Is that true?
I’ve been in the industry for 20 years now and I’ve heard all sorts of things. It used to be said that there was too much Fendant and then Pinot Noir. For a while there was an oversupply of it at the major distributors. That’s not necessarily what you want. I believe that you have to produce in line with the market. For me, Pinot Noir is the noblest red wine variety and naturally has a right to exist.
Then you don’t think that further harvesting restrictions are necessary?
No, I think that a so-called climate reserve would make sense in conjunction with the fixed maximum amounts. Winegrowers could then hold back the wine from good years, for example from 2018, and bring it onto the market in bad years when too little wine is produced, as was the case in 2021.
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