View of the vineyards between Veyras and Siders in canton Valais.
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Sarah Besse, from the Gerald Besse wine family, prepares to go grape-picking
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This year heavy frost and other bad weather have hit hard. Around 95% of the vines between Siders and Veyras were destroyed by hail.
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Fabrice Betrisey, boss of the Vocat et Fils wine business, takes part in the harvesting.
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Sarah Besse tries a white grape of the Marsanne Blanche variety.
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Employees of the Vocat et Fils wine cellar at Siders wait for the grapes to arrive.
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The raw material.
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After harvesting the grapes comes the selection: Martine Vocat at work.
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The grape harvest has already begun in many French-speaking wine regions in Switzerland – three weeks earlier than normal. The heavy frosty period in April has left its mark on this year's harvest.
In canton Valais the grape-picking season has begun. Most of the grapes will be harvested in the next two weeks and stored in wine cellars in the region, according to Guillaume Favre of the cantonal wine service. This year’s harvest is three weeks earlier than last year but wine specialists are nonetheless expecting an excellent vintage.
This comes after a week of frosty weather caused bad damage to vineyards in the canton. Favre said this year’s harvest would have been much bigger if there hadn’t been such a cold snap. The frost affected several thousand hectares or about one quarter of all vineyards in the canton.
(Text: swissinfo.ch/agencies; all images: Keystone)
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