Switzerland Travel Incentive Qualifiers Are Sure to Be Grapeful for This Excursion

NOTE: Advanced practice clinician business can help you qualify for our 2025 trip to Lausanne, Switzerland. View our updated Agent/Broker Travel Incentive Eligibility Requirements to find out how.

We are just three months away from finalizing our list of travelers to come with us on our 2024–2025 Agent/Broker Travel Incentive trip to the Beau-Rivage Palace in Lausanne, Switzerland, and experience Splendor on the Shores of Lake Geneva.

Most people who have not been fortunate enough to visit Switzerland tend to associate the landscape of the country with the Swiss Alps and Lake Geneva. But it is a little known fact that some of the most beautiful scenery in Switzerland actually lies in its wine vineyards.

Switzerland boasts an incredible variety of different terroirs, or combination of factors like soil, climate, and sunlight that give wine grapes their distinctive character. The country’s wine-growing industry is divided into six regions, each with its own distinctive character and special qualities.

With over 252 types of grapes being cultivated, Switzerland has a unique character that is beyond compare. Red wine is produced a tad bit more than white wine (56 percent versus 44 percent). The top red wine produced is Pinot Noir (total of 24 percent of all wine produced) and for white wine, it is Chasselas (also at 24 percent).

You don’t need to be a wine connoisseur to know about Pinot Noir here in the U.S. as it is very commonplace. Chasselas, on the other hand, is rarely mentioned on wine labels or openly discussed with other white grapes like Chardonnay, Sauvignon, or Blanc.

Considered the quintessentially Swiss grape, Chasselas pairs perfectly with another Swiss favorite, cheese fondue, because the texture of the wine matches that of the cheese, while the low acidity effectively slices through the fat, leaving the winetaster’s palate fresh. The taste of Chasselas is characterized by sweet, fruity notes of apple, pear, and citrus, complemented by floral accents such as acacia or lime blossom.

One of the main regions of Switzerland where Chasselas grapes flourish is Lavaux, which is known for its terraced vineyards that span nearly 20 miles and its location in the canton of Vaud on the shores of Lake Geneva. The region’s steep terraced vineyards benefit from the trifecta of warmth from solar, thermal, and radiation sources. Mirrored reflections from Lake Geneva and from the heat that’s stored in surrounding stone walls give a mediterranean feel to the region.

The Lavaux area is one of Europe’s oldest wine-growing regions, and that distinction has earned Lavaux a spot on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. You can actually trace the region all the way back to the ice ages, where Lavaux, like most of the southwestern part of Switzerland, was covered by the Rhone glacier. As the glacier declined, the steep slopes of the vineyards were formed. These are now the typical slopes of Lavaux, especially the breathtaking Dézaley vineyards, where the slope reaches 100 percent.

The Lavaux region saw the establishment of viticulture in the 11th century, when monks from Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries controlled the area and played a key role in large-scale winemaking.

Today, the Lavaux region is a thriving cultural landscape that shows its evolution and development over almost a millennium, through the well-preserved terrain, hillside, and buildings, as well as the continuation and adaptation of longstanding cultural traditions specific to its locality.

Lavaux also illustrates the story of patronage, control, and protection of this highly valued wine-growing area, all of which contributed to the development of where qualifiers of the 2024–2025 Agent/Broker Travel Incentive will be staying during the Switzerland trip: Lausanne. We even have an optional activity during the trip to hop on a train and take the railway from Lausanne over to the postcard-perfect Lavaux region on a day trip sure to inspire both Swiss and wine enthusiasts alike.

The end of the qualification period to join us on our 2025 trip to Lausanne, Switzerland, is right on your tail. On June 30, the Agent/Broker Travel Incentive will draw to a close. If you’re getting close to meeting the eligibility requirements, keep your sales foot on the gas so you won’t miss out on all the magical adventures to be had in Switzerland from September 28–October 2, 2025.

*Based on individual agency location production/retention, as opposed to agency group production/retention.

†Only the first completed quiz per agent will be counted; however, there is no limit to the number of agents who can take the quiz. The quiz score that is recorded is the quiz with the highest number of correct answers per agency location. 

Legal Notice: In the event any dispute should arise concerning any aspect of the 2024–2025 Agent/Broker Travel Incentive, such dispute shall be resolved by The Doctors Company. The decision as to any dispute concerning the Agent/Broker Travel Incentive shall rest in the sole discretion of The Doctors Company, and such decision shall be full, final, and not subject to any further review. Wholesale brokers of The Doctors Company and TDC Specialty Underwriters are not eligible to participate in the Agent/Broker Travel Incentive.