After getting 22 climats upgraded to Premier Cru by the INAO following the 2020 vintage, 4 more Mâconnais climats in Pouilly-Loché and Pouilly-Vinzelles are up for promotion to the Premier Cru status in the next 18 months.
Credit: Image by burgundy-wines.com
Filing for the Premier Cru status already took place in 2010, at the same time as the 22 climats that were granted Premier Cru status in 2020. The new climats will include Les Mûres in Pouilly-Loché and Les Longeays, Les Quartz and Les Pétaux in Pouilly-Vinzelles. All 4 climats have their own, unique characteristics when it comes to soil type and exposition. Alexis Sannier, representative for the INAO, states that official recognition for the 2024 vintage ‘seems realistic’. There are only a few steps that need to be taken before the INAO can grant the promotion:
Defining the extract borders of the climats
Stating the methods of production like maximum yields and minimum aging requirements
According to Jean Philippe Bret, owner of Domaine de la Soufrandrière in Pouilly-Vinzelles, the requirements for the new Premier Cru climats will be the same as for the Pouilly-Fuissé Premier Crus. Which would mean that weed killers are banned and harvesting by hand will be mandatory.
Justified or an accident of history?
William Kelly, Deputy Editor for the Wine Advocate, questions in his annual Mâconnais report if changing what you can put on the label of a wine, while farmed and made the same way, will make a big difference? There are producers in the Mâconnais who make Premier Cru worthy wines, but will there be more, now that they can state it on the bottle? François Labet, president of the Bureau Interprofessionel des Vins de Bourgogne states on the other hand that recognition is ‘overdue because Burgundians have long known the excellence of these climats’. ‘Mâcon offers the best deals for Burgundy wines, showing that not all quality Burgundy is expensive’ he adds. The very existence of the Premier Cru vineyards in the Côtes d’Or is actually due to an act of resistance during the Second World War. During the German occupation in 1943, northern parts of Burgundy (Côtes d’Or and the northern part of the Côtes Chalonnais) were under German control, while the southern part of Burgundy was under French control. One agreement between the French and the occupiers was that the Germans were not allowed to confiscate the Grand Cru wines (AOC granted in 1937), and the French farmers came up with a devious way to protect their wines from being confiscated, by creating a new Premier Cru level. Hence the fact that the Côtes d’Or has had Premier Cru vineyards since the 1940’s, and the southern part of Burgundy did not.
