Since 1975, the Distillerie de Bassins has been making the most of the favourable climate in the Vaudois Jura Regional Park above Nyon. The family business regularly organises free guided tours; check the programme on their website. Booking is required for groups.
At an altitude of 750 m, the Distillerie de Bassins grows a wide variety of medicinal plants using ecological methods. Here, sage, parsley, camomile, lavender, lovage, thyme, dill, tarragon, oregano, silver fir or bee balm are harvested and put into a vat, either whole or cut up depending on the plant. The distillery uses low pressure steam to extract a 100% pure, natural essential oil with no additives or further processing.
Due to the high quality of the distillery’s essential oils and hydrolats, they are widely used in Switzerland and elsewhere for the production of perfumes and fragrances and the distillery has been marketing its own line of cosmetics since 2002.
With a new 8,000 litre distillation unit opened in 2005, Jean-Marc Genevay and Frédéric Guenin, the son and nephew of the founders, are continuing the quest for excellence begun in 1975.
