All 20 of Dumoulin’s grapes (including indigenous varietals like Petite Arvine) are nourished by Clavau – a bisse crafted in 1453 by the Bishop of Sion. Many thanks to its snow-capped Alpine sights and direct accessibility to guérites (wine bars), the Bisse de Clavau doubles as a well-trodden hiking path. It is 1 of a raft of mercifully flat bisse walks in the region that have demonstrated a boon for regional tourism.

Starting at the village of St-Romain, Bisse de Clavau’s 8km-extended path weaves by way of vertiginous vineyards that tumble down to the Rhone River – a ribbon of shimmering turquoise flanked by emerald-eco-friendly slopes. I followed the sound of droning bees and babbling drinking water that flowed alternately by the bisse’s open up-air concrete channels, stone tunnels and steel conduits.

One particular person who is familiar with additional about the region’s historic watercourses than most is bisse