Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée
An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical bou ...
'' (AOC) for
white wine
White wine is a wine that is fermented without skin contact. The colour can be straw-yellow, yellow-green, or yellow-gold. It is produced by the alcoholic fermentation of the non-coloured pulp of grapes, which may have a skin of any colour. ...
in the
Mâconnais
The Mâconnais district is located in the south of the Burgundy wine region in France, west of the Saône river. It takes its name from the town of Mâcon. It is best known as a source of good value white wines made from the Chardonnay grape; the ...
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
Mâcon
Mâcon (), historically anglicised as Mascon, is a city in east-central France. It is the prefecture of the department of Saône-et-Loire in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Mâcon is home to near 34,000 residents, who are referred to in French as ...
. Pouilly-Loché has Chardonnay as the only allowed grape variety.AOC regulations for Pouilly-Loché, last updated 1998 /ref> There are no
Premier Cru
Cru is a wine term used to indicate a high-quality vineyard or group of vineyards. It is a French word which is traditionally translated as "growth", as is the past participle of the verb "croître" (to grow); it literally means 'grown'. The t ...
vineyards within the AOC, as the local growers at the time the regulations were being drawn up never applied for this. The AOC was created in 1940.
Pouilly-Loché is located adjacent to the appellations
Pouilly-Fuissé
Pouilly-Fuissé () is an ''appellation'' (AOC) for white wine in the Mâconnais subregion of Burgundy in central France, located in the communes of Fuissé, Solutré-Pouilly, Vergisson and Chaintré. Pouilly-Fuissé has Chardonnay as the ...
, which is considerably larger than Pouilly-Loché, and
Pouilly-Vinzelles
Pouilly-Vinzelles is an ''Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée'' (AOC) for white wine in the Mâconnais subregion Burgundy in central France, located in the communes of Vinzelles and Loché, the latter an associated commune of Mâcon. Pouilly-Vinz ...
, but is located slightly closer to Mâcon. These three neighbouring appellations all produce white wines of a similar style.
Production
In 2008, of vineyard surface was in production for Pouilly-Loché AOC, and 1,474 hectoliters of wine were produced,BIVB: Les Appellations d’Origine Contrôlée de Bourgogne accessed on November 23, 2009 corresponding to just under 200,000 bottles of white wine.
AOC regulations
The AOC regulations only allow Chardonnay to be used. The allowed base yield is 50 hectoliter per hectare and the grapes must reach a maturity of at least 11.0 per cent
potential alcohol
Must weight is a measure of the amount of sugar in grape juice (must) and, hence, indicates the amount of alcohol that could be produced if it is all fermented to alcohol, rather than left as residual sugar.