Originally from Lucerne, Ilona Hunkeler dreamed of becoming an actress before oenology brought her to the Valais. An apprenticeship at Domaine de Beudon alongside Pierre Antoine Crettenand, then a position at the Provins cooperative; she founded Ô Fâya Farm in 2019 on the heights of Saxon, a farm surrounded by hundreds of apricot trees, cats, chickens and sheep (fâya, the Valaisan dialect word for sheep). Certified Bio Suisse since 2021, the farm works without synthetic pesticides. After her first vintages were vinified at friends’ places, Ilona set up her own cellar thanks to a crowdfunding campaign and now farms her own vines in Fully, on the slopes of the Combe d’Enfer and Tassonières: fendant, gamay, petite arvine, syrah, cornalin. Vinification with no additives, little or no sulfur, no filtration; colourful labels designed by her daughter Emma. Tinpeta de Gamay, Seuf de Fendant, Mirage d’Arvine and Fyasco Blanc are free, frank and fresh wines, bringing a breath of new air to the Valais.