Region: France - Burgundy - Macon-Loche
Grapes: Chardonnay
Alcohl: 13.5%
Notes on the Wine
Fresh and clean, with pleasant aromatic concentration notes and an airy finish. Complex and satisfying.
Notes on the Producer
Following the well-deserved success of the wines from Domaine Cheveau in Pouilly-Fuissé, we began to research new sources in the Maconnais. It turned out that the best suggestion came from Nicolas Cheveau himself, as a childhood friend of his had recently acquired an intriguing estate in the neighboring appellation of Pouilly-Loché. When we first met Olivier Giroux, his intense and serious demeanor offered a suggestion of what we would find during the tasting. Moreover, his pedigree, as not only a native of the neighboring village of Fuissé but also the seventh generation of his family to carry the vigneron torch, was another promising piece of the puzzle. Implicit in the introduction of the estate to our portfolio is our delight with the wines of Clos des Rocs, which are mineral, focused, terroir-driven wines of exceptional balance. A wonderful companion to our stable of Maconnais growers, with a hint of the style found at Cheveau.
You may be wondering why you haven’t previously heard about Pouilly-Loché, for which you can hardly be blamed. The entire appellation covers a mere 32 hectares, of which nearly 30% belongs to Clos des Rocs. To our knowledge, no estate-bottled wine from the appellation has appeared in the U.S. in the recent past, despite the fact that the AOC dates back to 1940 and enjoys a strong reputation locally in the Maconnais. As this was our first serious exposure to a full range of cuvees from the appellation, we were eager to understand what, if any, differences in terroir would be evident in the glass. The soils are characterized by iron-rich clay and limestone, often with up to 30cm of dense limestone pebble dispersion at the surface. The resulting wines are leaner than their counterparts in neighboring Pouilly Fuisse and carry a hint of earth, yet they are quite rich in mineral, with enough fruit density to properly support the robust structural elements. Each wine is compelling and exciting to a degree that we have made a significant commitment to the domaine, and will be importing over the coming months each of the seven cuvées produced at the domaine.
The estate counts 8.6 hectares of vines across seven parcels, principally in Pouilly-Loché, with plots in Macon-Loché and Pouilly-Fuissé rounding out the holdings. No chemical products are used in the vineyard and Olivier is committed to organic processes from start to finish, though he has chosen not to pursue certification. All grapes are manually harvested before a long pressing, followed by alcoholic fermentation using only indigenous yeasts.
