After more than 10 years in the preparation, the dossier with all the work to justify certain parcels of Pouilly-Fuissé becoming 1er Crus is completed. This week all the vigneron(ne)s of Pouilly voted that they take the next step. The ‘next step’ is actually a number of public consultations et-cetera where anyone can have a say, but it seems that they are on ‘a good way’ and could have the final ‘yes’ in less than two years, at which time they can back-date vintages from 2017 as 1ers.

About 22% of the appellation is slated to be upgraded to 1er Cru, and for these parcels the rules will change slightly; the allowed yields will decrease from 60 to 56 hectolitres per hectare, and the minimum alcohol requirement will raise from 11 to 11.5%. For good producers the rules will make no difference whatsoever – the average yields being closer to 40 hl/ha and usually over 12° at harvest time.

Good luck to them…