Interview with Dominique Giroud

Why are you compiling the articles that have appeared about you over the years on this personal website?
Like everyone else, I've made mistakes in my life, and I don't hide them. But I still have the feeling that the press has been very hard on me, suggesting that I have no passion for my industry, that I've never done anything good in my life and that I work in the wine industry just to make money. It's a wound and I had to tell my side of the story, as this site announces.

Do you feel that "business" has made you forget your professional qualities?
Of course you can. I've won 300 medals in national and international competitions in my career, and I've never been condemned for any oenological practices. The attacks on these issues, along with those aimed at my family, are in fact the ones that have hurt me and those close to me the most. I've been criticised for sometimes valid reasons, and I can't pretend that I'm as clean as a whistle. But I've also faced my fair share of injustice. You know, I worked in the vineyards with my father, who was a winegrower himself, during my early years in the business. I've always been keen to keep that heritage alive.

What part of your business would you like the general public to know more about?
All my life, I've defended a certain culture of excellence, and the creation of bridges between the wine industry and the world of art in general. I've often been attacked on intimate issues, whereas I've always had a great concern for quality in what constitutes the heart of my business: producing exceptional wines and respecting the men and women who contribute to them from one end of the chain to the other.

What does your day-to-day life consist of?
Some of the media have tarnished my name so much that I have to work more discreetly than in the past. I'm still involved in a number of companies and I put my creativity to work on projects linked to the vineyards and the Valais terroir in general. It's important for me to maintain this link with my region. I still get the same pleasure out of creating jobs here and giving young people a chance, in whom I find some of the same enthusiasm that characterised my career.

After more than ten years of all kinds of controversy, how do you see the future?
I'm still an entrepreneur with a passion for what I do, and I'm still putting my heart and soul into it. But I'm also a man who has to juggle his work with major family responsibilities due to a twist of fate. I aspire to find the best balance between these different levels, while remaining faithful to my professional values. I hope that, in the future, the media will respect my private sphere more, which I have never put forward as part of my job.