For many years it has frustrated me that Burgundy enthusiasts don’t show a little more love to the wines of the Mâconnais. Smart restaurants may have a page of different wines from Chablis and then a token Mâcon Villages. There is so much more going on here at the moment, not just because a few leading Côte d’Or producers have involved themselves in the Mâconnais as well, but also through the efforts of a younger generation locally.
Something more is needed though, and it may well be that the dossier currently being advanced to promote the best vineyards of Pouilly Fuissé to 1er Cru status could be the locomotive needed. It has been a long road and it still is not over yet as final negotiations continue between the INAO and local growers as to where exactly to draw the boundaries. As it stands 22 1ers Crus are being proposed covering about 23% of the appellation, but the devil is in the detail. After the INAO submitted their provisional ruling, no less than 89 producers came back with a total of 193 reclamations – appeals to have some plot or even a few additional rows of vines included within the boundaries.
Watch this space! I have ben watching this space for a while now…. We should hear more in the autumn.