The Viré-Clessé appellation
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As early as 1963, today's older generation of winegrowers made the first application to the INAO for Viré and part of Quintaine, the neighbouring hamlet, to be awarded its own appellation. The request was judged to be too commercial and too limited in terms of production to be sufficiently representative.
Another attempt was made in 1973 by bringing together the 17 communes of the canton for the application: this time the request was too big and was not considered. Finally, the idea was taken up again by the Viré winegrowers' guild, but this time starting from scratch and putting together a sound, balanced and unstoppable application, prepared by fifteen or so volunteer winegrowers. Tastings and the project were presented to the Union of Mâcon Wine Producers, before it followed the usual course: the INAO in Mâcon, then the regional and, finally, the national authorities.
The Viré-Clessé appelation A fact-finding commission was then launched, as is always the case, and it expressed a favourable opinion in its 1994 report, but also the wish that the applications of Viré and Clessé (a neighbouring village which had meanwhile made its own request) be unified. The winegrowers concerned (both members of the cooperative and independent growers) thus decided to join forces and applied for a "Viré-Clessé" appellation.
After much coming and going (the final stage of the INAO vote was postponed the first time because one voter was missing!), the question was put to the vote again in November 1997 and obtained a majority of two thirds. The decree was ratified on November 4th, 1998 by the INAO and published in the "Journal Officiel" on February 6th, 1999. And so was born a communal appellation which carried with it high hopes for the future.
Today, the winegrowers of Viré-Clessé can feel proud, because this success belongs to them. Indeed, if a communal appellation was created, it was thanks to the quality of their work and their wines, and thanks also to the synergy of two teams who worked in the same direction, in perfect harmony.
Viré Wine Cellars had been preparing for a long time the cradle of the Viré-Clessé AOC: all the investment of recent years had been made with this objective in mind, including investment in its all-out quality policy. Because a new AOC is not decided just like that: Viré-Clessé AOC is the result of several decades of work, a sort of tribute to former generations of winegrowers who planted vines and devoted all their talent to them. In short, a sincere and enduring love story.