GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / AMONG THE VINES – The chief executive of Switzerland’s largest winery, Valais cooperative Provins, is leaving the company after 15 years, effective 31 January. The firm, in a statement, offered no explanation for the abrupt departure of Roland Vergères, who has headed the group for 13 years, but it thanked him for his “impeccable” contribution to the company.

Le Nouvelliste, newspaper for canton Valais, reports that the departure is tied to a desire by Pierre-Alain Grichting, chairman of the board since last summer, to bring “new energy and faces to drive the cooperative.”

Vergères oversaw the centralization of vinification activities in 2009 after directing the merger in 2002 of the canton’s Caves Coopératives, as part of efforts to streamline the company in the face of increasingly tougher markets at home and globally.

Provins has 4,000 members and produces wine from 980 hectares of vines.

The winery won the 2013 “Swiss winemaker of the year” title conferred by the Vinea Association, in October 2013.