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Val de Loire · Centre-Loire · Dry white

Pouilly-sur-Loire — terroir, soils & grape varieties

On the same hillsides as Pouilly-Fumé, but with a different grape variety: Pouilly-sur-Loire is the stronghold of chasselas, this table grape turned wine. A rare and light curiosity, a living witness to a grape-growing tradition that predates sauvignon.

The wine of chasselas, on the lands of Pouilly-Fumé

Pouilly-sur-Loire shares exactly the same area — seven communes in the Nièvre, on the right bank of the Loire facing Sancerre — with Pouilly-Fumé. The difference lies in the grape variety: where Pouilly-Fumé is made from sauvignon, Pouilly-sur-Loire comes from chasselas, planted here at the end of the 19th century. Today it is a confidential production, on only about forty hectares.

Terroir and style

The vineyard favours clay-limestone soils, between Kimmeridgian marls and flint-bearing clays. On this base, chasselas yields a white with a pale yellow robe, notes of fresh almond and hazelnut, light and lively. It is a wine for easy drinking, to be enjoyed young, served cool at around 12°C — a charming testament to a grape variety that has become rare as wine.

The grape varieties of Pouilly-sur-Loire

Chasselas →sole grape variety ('doré de Fontainebleau') — fresh almond, hazelnut
Buy a Pouilly-sur-Loire →
Sources: Wikipédia — Pouilly-sur-Loire (AOC)