The vineyard benefits in full from the generosity of the sun thanks to the very favorable orientation of the slope. The heat accumulated in the walls and that reflected by the mirror of the lake in September also contribute to obtaining optimum ripeness of the grapes. A fine example of a man-made landscape, Lavaux hangs its vineyard on the slope, between the sky and the lake. The vines are not an element of the landscape, but the landscape itself thanks to the innumerable walls constituting terraces superimposed by tens.

Very influenced by the lake which moderates the variations in temperature, the climate of Lavaux is hot in summer, but without excessive drought. Sometimes harsh in winter, however, the cold alternates with periods of thaw. The annual average temperature is close to 10 degrees. While it can drop to -7 degrees in January or February, the thermometer will display 25 degrees or more for 30 to 60 days each summer. The westerly wind brings humidity to the Atlantic, the north-easterly wind brings a steady breeze and dry weather.

The landscape of Lavaux is a geology book open to several stages in the life of our planet. 30 million years old, the molasses in the basement stand side by side with slightly more recent banks of pudding and marl. These benches line the vineyard and form its skeleton. Yet it is the glaciations that will determine the landscape. These repeated phenomena began 2 million years ago and ended 10,000 years ago, leaving clearly visible traces. The Rhone glacier in particular dug the trough of Lake Geneva and deposited its moraines.

The shaping of these steep terraces, the flagship of the world natural heritage, is due to the work of the Cistercian monks. Established in the past in the Abbey of Haut-Crêt, near Oron, these fervent and industrious religious began at the request of the Bishop of Lausanne an important work of clearing the wasteland in this part of the country. From the year 1141 and for nearly two centuries, it was their tireless efforts that shaped the magnificent silhouette of the Dézaley vineyard, located in the heart of Lavaux, where the slopes sometimes reached 40 °.