Winemaker Notes
White wines from Mâconnais typically show riper flavors and richer flavors than regions to the north. Laurent Cognard describes this wine as "joyeux," and full of exuberance, with ripe apple and lemon flavors, counterbalanced by minerality. Pouilly-Loché is one of five village AOCs in the Mâconnais and is often considered in the same class as the more famous Pouilly-Fuissé. The name Pouilly was added to that of Loché as a reminder that the village of Pouilly is only 1.5 miles to the west. The climat of aux Barres sits between Pouilly-Fuissé and the village of Loché.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
A center of viticulture since Roman times, Pouilly-Loché sits east of Pouilly-Fuissé in front of a beautiful backdrop of the hills of Solutré and Vergisson. Attesting to the continuous vitality of viticulture in Pouilly-Loché, many of its cellars date back to the 17th century.
Within Pouilly-Loché, which is also part of Pouilly-Vinzelles, the wines of each of its many lieux-dits (small vineyard areas) claim distinct personalities because of extreme soil variations within this small area. In its northern end, soils are older schists and sandstones, which retain heat. In the south, towards Vinzelles, Pouilly-Loché claims cooler, iron-rich, clay-limestone soils resembling those of the rest of Vinzelles to the south.
Within the variations, a great Pouilly-Loché (always made of Chardonnay) often has characteristics reminiscent of honey, acacia, apricot and grapefruit; with age these will veer towards pear, quince, dried fruit, hazelnut and ginger. These pair perfectly with roasted or tandoori chicken, guinea fowl and olives or fresh water fish dishes.