Château Roduit: A Swiss Winemaker, Amphorae, and No Oak
Yves Roduit trained at Mouton-Rothschild, Almaviva, and Opus One. Then he met a Tibetan girl, settled in Deqin, and built the world's highest cellar, without a single oak barrel.
From Valais to the Lancang
Section titled “From Valais to the Lancang”Yves Roduit, born 1975, from Saillon in the Valais canton of Switzerland. A third-generation winemaker. His family has grown grapes in Valais for decades.
His résumé runs longer than the third-generation label suggests. At Robert Gilliard in Valais, technical director, managing twenty-five hectares and a team of twenty-five. Then Château Mouton-Rothschild. Then Almaviva in Chile. Then Opus One in Napa. Three continents; every stop a first-rank estate.
In 2014, on the invitation of the Swiss Catholic priest Nicolas Buttet, he came to Shangri-La. Initially as the winemaker at Xiaoling. Xiaoling’s first vintages, 2014 and 2015, were made by Yves Roduit.
Then he met Hélène, a Tibetan woman from Badong village, Deqin. He did not go back to Switzerland.
The Winery Without Oak Barrels
Section titled “The Winery Without Oak Barrels”In 2016, Yves and Hélène registered Château Roduit and settled on a site in Yanmen township, Deqin. Vineyards are at three elevations: 2,200, 2,500, and 2,700 meters. The cellar sits at 3,300 meters, possibly the highest wine cellar in the world.
Since 2014: zero pesticides, zero insecticides, zero herbicides. Small natural predators introduced as biological control. The vines are own-rooted cuttings planted by the local government in the 1990s; ungrafted. The strong UV at altitude already suppresses pests and disease, so the threshold to give up agrochemicals is far lower here than in low-altitude regions.
The most distinctive choice: no oak barrels. Everything in 300- to 500-liter clay amphorae. Fermentation, maceration, and aging all in amphora. Two months of skin contact. 24 to 52 months of élevage. No filtration, no fining, minimal sulfur.
Yves has said directly, in a Radio Chine Internationale interview: “On doit réhabituer les gens au vrai goût du vin.” We have to retrain people to the real taste of wine. His view is that excessive oak masks terroir.
At 3,300 meters, making Cabernet without sulfur in clay amphorae. From Mouton-Rothschild’s precision to this minimalism, Yves walked an inverse path. But in a high-altitude, low-disease environment, the logic holds together better than almost anywhere else.
Shuiru Dadi
Section titled “Shuiru Dadi”The flagship wine is Shuiru Dadi (Land of Milk and Honey). 100% Cabernet Sauvignon.
The name comes from a novel of the same title by Fan Wen, set in the Lancang gorge below Meili Snow Mountain. The novel narrates a century of collision and integration among Tibetan, Catholic, Dongba, and Tibetan Buddhist traditions in this land. The book was shortlisted for the Mao Dun Literature Prize and selected into the 70 Years 70 Novels canon.
The name is itself a metaphor for the estate. A Swiss man and a Tibetan woman. Amphorae and Cabernet. Valais and the Hengduan Mountains.
First vintage 2017, released 2019. Ian D’Agata gave the 2018 vintage 91 points, describing it as “a very pretty wine”: dark cherry, blackcurrant, dried flower, orange peel, fine tannins, balanced. In 2023 it won Gold at the China Wine Summit blind tasting.
A second cuvée is Canticle to the Land, also amphora-aged. Wine Advocate has cited it in coverage of China’s top wines.
D’Agata groups Roduit with Ao Yun and Xiaoling as truly exceptional, world-class wines. From a famously strict Italian critic, for an estate producing only about 4,500 bottles a year, the placement carries weight.
Swiss Distribution
Section titled “Swiss Distribution”In Switzerland, Roduit is distributed exclusively by DIVO Club de Vin. Retail at CHF 230, member price CHF 184. Around RMB 1,500–2,000. In China, sold through a Shanghai distributor into the high-end on-trade.
Swiss francophone media took an interest in the story. Le Nouvelliste and 24 Heures have run feature pieces. Headlines usually run along the lines of “ce Valaisan qui produit du vin au Tibet” (the Valais man making wine in Tibet). In 2022, Shuiru Dadi officially entered the Swiss retail market: the first time a Chinese wine had been sold at retail in Switzerland.
Thirty-Five Households
Section titled “Thirty-Five Households”The estate employs thirty-five local Tibetan farming households. All field work is fully manual.
Yves is planning to plant Petite Arvine on a south-facing slope: Valais’s classic white variety. If it succeeds, it will be the first Petite Arvine planted in China and possibly the highest Petite Arvine in the world.
Bringing a variety from Valais to the Hengduan Mountains, and 160 years ago French missionaries bringing Rose Honey to Cizhong: structurally, the same act. The difference: this time, the winemaker knows what he is doing.