At Long Last: The Pouilly-Fuissé AOC has 22 official Premier Crus!

Photo via: https://www.pouilly-fuisse.net/en/

More than 12 years after the beginning of the process, the Pouilly-Fuissé AOC has 22 official premier crus!

As reported by Frédéric-Marc Burrier, president of the Union des Producteurs de Pouilly-Fuissé, the application process for France’s newest premier cru appellations began with an in-depth study of the soil, topography, and history of the Pouilly-Fuissé area. This part of the project included creating a detailed map of the appellation’s 217 lieux-dits and the painstaking delineation of the 22 plots that would hold the area’s highest classification (all of which had to be approved by the organization’s 250 member-producers).

The application was approved by France’s Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualité (INAO) on September 3, 2020. The newly-approved premier crus represent 194 hectares—24% of the total area of the Pouilly-Fuissé AOC—and are spread over the four communes of the appellation: Chaintré, Fuissé, Solutré-Pouilly and Vergisson.

The Pouilly-Fuissé AOC, famous for white wines made using 100% Chardonnay, is located in Burgundy’s Mâconnais region. Pouilly-Fuissé is one of the five well-known, white-wine producing communal AOCs of the Mâconnais.  (For the wine students: the others include the Viré-Clessé, Saint-Véran, Pouilly-Vinzelles, and Pouilly-Loché AOCs.)

Pouilly-Fuissé is the first appellation of the Mâconnais to officially recognize specific climats as premier crus. The list is as follows:

• Commune de Chaintré
  • Le Clos de Monsieur Noly
  • Les Chevrières
  • Aux Quarts
  • Le Clos Reyssier

• Commune de Fuissé
  • Le Clos
  • Les Brulés
  • Les Ménétrières
  • Les Reisses
  • Les Vignes Blanches
  • Les Perrières
  • Vers Cras (shared with Solutré-Pouilly)

• Commune de Solutré-Pouilly
  • La Frérie
  • Le Clos de Solutré
  • Au Vignerais
  • En Servy
  • Aux Bouthières
  • Aux Chailloux
  • Pouilly
  • Vers Cras (shared with Fuissé)

• Commune de Vergisson
  • Les Crays
  • La Maréchaude
  • Sur la Roche
  • En France

Update: As of April of 2021, this amendment was approved by the EU.

References/for more information:

• CdC Pouilly-Fuissé updated 2020
• Communique de Pressé-Pouilly-Fuissé-INAO
• Union des Producteurs de Pouilly-Fuissé
• Announcement on the website of the INAO regarding Pouilly-Fuissé AOC Premiers Crus

Post authored by Jane A. Nickles…your blog administrator: jnickles@societyofwineeducators.org