Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée
In France, the ''appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (, ; abbr. AOC ) is a label that identifies an agricultural product whose stages of production and processing are carried out in a defined geographical area – the ''terroir'' – and using ...
'' (AOC) for
white wine
White wine is a wine that is Fermentation in winemaking, fermented without undergoing the process of Maceration (wine), maceration, which involves prolonged contact between the juice with the grape skins, seeds, and pulp. The wine color, colou ...
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; t ...
subregion in
Burgundy
Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. ...
in central
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
Laizé
Laizé (; ) is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France.
Wine
Vineyards of Laizé are part of the ''appellation d'origine contrôlée'' Viré-Clessé, which is used for white wi ...
Chardonnay
Chardonnay (, ; ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand. For new a ...
as the only allowed grape variety. There are no
Premier Cru
Cru is a wine Glossary of wine terms, term used to indicate a high-quality vineyard or group of vineyards. It is a French language, French word which was originally used to refer to both a region and anything grown in it, but is now mostly used t ...
vineyards within the AOC. The AOC was created in 1999, when this area was upgraded to be a communal-level appellation of its own ("a separate Mâconnais cru" similar to e.g.
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 on ...
) rather than being part of the subregional
Mâcon AOC
Mâcon (), historically Anglicization, anglicised as Mascon, is a city in east-central France. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Saône-et-Loire in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Mâcon is home t ...
, which covers a much larger area. Before the Viré-Clessé AOC was created, the wines could be labelled ''Mâcon-Vire'' or ''Mâcon-Clessé''.
The Viré-Clessé AOC is located in the northern part of the Mâconnais subregion, north of the town of
Mâcon
Mâcon (), historically Anglicization, anglicised as Mascon, is a city in east-central France. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Saône-et-Loire in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Mâcon is home t ...
, in the direction of the
Côte Chalonnaise
Côte Chalonnaise is a subregion of the Burgundy wine region of France. Côte Chalonnaise lies to the south of the Côte d'Or continuing the same geology southward. It is still in the main area of Burgundy wine production but it includes no Gran ...
subregion.
Production
In 2008, of vineyard surface was in production for Viré-Clessé AOC, and 21,925 hectoliter of wine was produced,BIVB: Les Appellations d’Origine Contrôlée de Bourgogne accessed on November 23, 2009 corresponding to just over 2.9 million bottles of white wine.
AOC regulations
The AOC regulations only allow Chardonnay to be used. The allowed base yield is 55 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. The specifications of the appellation were revised by Decree 2011-1794 of 5 December 2011.