Certified organic Pouilly-Loché from Olivier Giroux in Loché, led by the 3 ha Clos des Rocs monopole.
Loché sits at the southern end of the Mâconnais, on the edge of Mâcon. Its whites have their own appellation, Pouilly-Loché, about 34 ha in production and a small neighbour of Pouilly-Fuissé.
In the Clos, a shallow reddish earth mixed with limestone stones sits on rock often only 30 cm down. En Près Forêt is stony sandy silt over schist, and Pierre Longue, a Pouilly-Fuissé under Olivier's own label, is gravel over Triassic sandstone.
Olivier Giroux comes from a family that has grown vines for seven generations. He bought the Domaine du Clos des Rocs in 2002, now 13 ha, and spent ten years reviving soils left almost lifeless by herbicide. He began converting to organic farming in 2006, was certified in 2014, and has farmed the whole domaine biodynamically since autumn 2021.
Every parcel is vinified separately to show the range of Loché's soils. Under his own name he also makes about 15,000 bottles a year, in organic conversion, from grapes grown on family vines.