Great overnight stop in Burgundy’s Pouilly Fuisse
Our recommendation for a night’s stop-over in beautiful Pouilly Fuisse in the Burgundy wine region, Mâconnais - discover Pouilly-Fuisse in less than 24 hours!
The imposing Roche de Solutré near Solutré-Pouilly - Source: Wine Keller
Unless you’re specifically touring Burgundy’s Mâconnais wine region, it’s quite possible you’ll completely miss it as you speed down the A6 autoroute on your way down to southern France - or maybe you’ve already ‘done’ Burgundy, but in reality you’ve only done the more famous bit - the ‘Côte d’Or’.
Can we suggest that next time you’re in France, you plan a detour and spend some time in Burgundy’s Mâconnais - especially if you love your Chardonnay! This is what we did recently on our way back from the south of France. Rather than spend a night in a typical Ibis or Mercure hotel by the side of the autoroute, we ventured 15 minutes into the beautiful Mâconnais countryside and the Pouilly Fuissé wine district. What a find!! Not only did we find a fabulous guest house, we got to sample some stunning wines and food and explore for a few hours!
Read on to see what we discovered!
The Mâconnais wine region
The Mâconnais is in southern Burgundy, bordering Beaujolais to the south and the Côte Chalonnaise to the north. Being more southerly, the climate is warmer than in the north of Burgundy and the wines fuller and riper. Overall, the region offers much better value than in the north, with land and wines cheaper compared to in the famous Côte d’Or for example.
Mâconnais is named after the town of Mâcon and the region is bordered in the east by the Saône river. The landscape is one of rolling limestone hills and its vineyards are planted amongst other agricultural crops and woodland.
Beautiful Mâconnais landscapes - Source: Wine Keller
Chardonnay vineyards, Pouilly-Fuissé - Source: Wine Keller
Mâconnais wine
The first thing to mention about Mâconnais wine is that over 90% of it is based on the white Chardonnay grape. In fact, Mâcon blanc Chardonnay wine is produced in almost as much quantity as Chablis, that other famous white Burgundy Chardonnay wine.
Wine growers have been attracted here by the warmer climate and the lower cost of land and the reputation of Mâconnais Chardonnay is definitely on the rise.
Mâconnais wine appellations
A significant proportion of Mâconnais white wine is sold as ‘Bourgogne Blanc’ - the general appellation for Burgundy.
Then above this classification is the wine sold as ‘Mâcon’ or ‘Mâcon-Villages’. There are about 30 villages in the region which can append the village name to the ‘Mâcon’ name and these are the wines which tend to provide really excellent value for money.
In addition there are a number of villages which have been granted their own appellation status, including such names as Pouilly-Vinzelles, Pouilly-Loché, St Veran, Viré-Clessé and perhaps the most famous internationally, Pouilly-Fuissé.
Pouilly Fuisse Chardonnay
Pouilly-Fuissé is the home of the finest white wines of Burgundy's Mâconnais wine region, often rivalling the best white wines of Côte de Beaune in northern Burgundy. A typical Pouilly-Fuissé wine is full-bodied, potent, ripe, but quite elegant, with good acidity.
The Pouilly-Fuissé wine district is in the far south of the Mâconnais and comprises four separate and varied communes including Chaintré, Solutré-Pouilly, Fuissé and Vergisson.
There are around 800 hectares of hillside vineyards, planted on limestone-rich clay soils, which the Chardonnay grape is extremely well-suited to. The area is dominated by two incredibly impressive limestone rock formations, the Roche de Verglisson in the north and the larger 500m high limestone escarpment, known as the Roche de Solutré. These impressive geological features tower over the vineyards below and sit at the heart of the Pouilly-Fuissé district, attracting wine lovers, walkers and cyclists alike.
Roche de Verglisson, Pouilly-Fuissé - Source: Wine Keller
Pouilly-Fuissé Premier Cru
In 2020, Pouilly-Fuissé became the first Mâconnais subregion to achieve Premier Cru status for its best vineyards. Just over 20 of the Pouilly-Fuissé vineyards have been awarded this status, spread across the four different communes.
Our overnight stay in Pouilly-Fuisse
Searching for an overnight stop en route north from the Rhone Valley, we decided to try to find somewhere in Mâconnais, a sub-region of Burgundy we had not visited before. We were in search of somewhere in the vineyards, with character, not too expensive, where we could relax, discover a little about the region and its wines and enjoy a good meal! Crucially, we wanted somewhere where we didn’t have to detour too far from the autoroute.
Our accommodation in Solutré-Pouilly
We quickly came across a guest house called ‘Chez Romain’ in the Pouuilly-Fuissé commune of Solutré-Pouilly, via the French Chambres d’hotes website and also booking.com. It seemed perfect and had only excellent recommendations! Just 10-15 minutes from the autoroute, situated in the village of Solutré-Pouilly and following a quick telephone call, we secured a room for the night and a booking for dinner!
The proprietor of Chez Romain is Romain Lapierrre, who not only runs this fabulous 5 bedroom guest house, he also owns and manages his own vineyards and makes his own wines! He recently renovated his house to an excellent standard, to offer guest house accommodation for up to 10 people right in the centre of the village and the Pouilly-Fuissé vineyards.
We were blown away by Romain’s friendly and informal welcome and his hospitality. We were able to immediately relax and settle in, just what you need after a long drive!
The rooms were modern and comfortable and the breakfast the next morning was excellent, with lovely local, fresh produce, including the first cherry harvest of the season! The breakfast room was very relaxed and we loved the little touches like a large fridge, with a shelf for each room where you could store food and drink.
An introduction to Mâconnais and Pouilly-Fuissé wines
Before dinner, Romain gathered his guests together in the garden and introduced the regions’ wines to us and offered us a tasting of his wines, including a lovely fruity St. Veran and an excellent Pouilly-Fuissé. This was a great way for us to quickly and easily try some local wines, without making special, separate visits to local domaines. Perfect for an overnight stay! We really enjoyed Romain’s wines and took up his special offer of a case of 6 of his wines to bring home with us.
Romain introducing his wines
Romain’s Pouilly-Fuissé and St Veran wines
Dinner in Solutré-Pouilly
Romain had kindly reserved us a table in the local restaurant, just 2-3 minutes walk away, called La Courtille de Solutré.
What a beautiful restaurant - lovely terrace, cozy interior, great food and of course, fabulous wines! We enjoyed a 3 course menu, which included smoked salmon, fresh white asparagus, veal and baked cod, followed by the famous French ‘Tarte Tatin’ and ‘Ile Flottante’! We went for a Saint Veran wine, which was delicious.
La Courtille de Solutré also has 6 guest rooms, so this is another great accommodation option in this beautiful village.
The Roche de Solutré
The following morning we decided to stay a few hours before heading north as we wanted to explore the countryside a bit more, especially the famous limestone rock which dominates the area, the Roche de Solutré.
This area has been recognised as a ‘Grande site de France’, not just because of the geological phenomenon, but also because of the very special wines produced here, the existence of rare flora and fauna and it just happens to be one of the largest prehistoric sites in Europe!
We just had to travel in the car for 5 minutes to a car park, which gives you access to the walking trail up to the rock itself and a spectacular panoramic view of the Mâconnais vineyards.
We didn’t have time (you need about 90 minutes to visit properly), but we will certainly return to visit the Musée de la Préhistoire at the foot of the rock, which has collections from some of the richest prehistoric sites in Europe and showcases the life of hunters from the upper Paleolithic period in Solutré.
You can also visit the Maison du Grand Site to learn more about this very special area.
After spending a couple of hours here and heading to another vantage point where we could see both the Roche de Solutré and the Roche de Verglisson, we slowly made our way back to the autoroute, very happy that we had managed to get a great introduction to Mâconnais, Pouilly-Fuissé and some wonderful French countryside!
Additional tips and information
For more information about the Mâconnais wine region of Burgundy, see ‘Vins de Bourgogne’.
For more about Pouilly-Fuissé, refer to ‘Wine Searcher’
For suggestions about what else to discover in Burgundy’s Mâconnais region, click here.
For cycle routes in Southern Burgundy download the ‘Voie Verte 71’ (greenways) app.
We enjoyed tasting wines at our guest house and the restaurant, but you can also visit domaines in the area for a wine tasting. Try Château de Beauregard which is located just by the twin villages of Pouilly and Fuissé. Owned by the famous Burgundy family ‘Burrier’ for over six generations, this domaine produces an excellent range of wines and you can enjoy a great wine tasting in their oenothèque. We actually used to import their southern Burgundy wines years ago and they were always very popular with both private customers and restaurants.
We can also recommend Château des Quarts in Chaintré, co-owned by Olivier Merlin.
Conclusion
It’s amazing what you can discover about a wine region, in just a small space of time. Our immersion in Pouilly-Fuissé was quick, but enough for us to want to go back and explore more of the Mâconnais wine region.
So next time you’re looking for an overnight stop on your way through France, or if you want to extend your Burgundy experience, give Mâconnais a chance, you won’t be disappointed!! Pouilly-Fuissé is certainly beautiful wine country and they produce pretty good wines too!!
