Yonne is an IGP title covering the administrative department of the same name in northeastern France. Occupying the northwestern corner of the Burgundy wine region, Yonne is by far best known for its most famous AOC appellation, Chablis. The IGP title covers the wines made here that either do not fall within the official boundaries of the Chablis vineyard, or do not adhere to the strict winemaking laws of the appellation.
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The department is named for the Yonne river, a tributary of the Seine river that flows through Paris. Most of the hilly landscape of the Yonne is a result of the river’s movements over time, and the topography has given rise to a range of mesoclimates that are suitable for viticulture, despite Yonne’s cool continental climate. Most vineyards are located on sites that take advantage of both sunlight and the prevailing winds, and that are less affected by frost.
Yonne has a varied geological makeup, and thus a wide range of soil types that are found across the region. The most-famous of these soils is the Kimmeridgian limestone that characterizes the land surrounding Chablis, made up of ancient marine fossils and mineral-rich clay. Granite and sand area found in the soils in other parts of Yonne.
Unlike many department-level IGPs, Yonne has a small list of permitted grape varieties that betray its location in northern Burgundy. Red wines are made from Pinot Noir and Gamay, along with the lesser-known varieties of Trousseau and Cesar. The white wines are made predominantly from the Burgundian varieties Chardonnay, Aligote and Pinot Blanc, but also from Sauvignon Blanc: the Loire villages of Sancerre and Pouilly-sur-Loire are just a few miles southwest of Yonne’s border.
Wines produced in Yonne were previously labeled under the department’s Vin de Pays title, Vin de Pays de l’Yonne. Since 2009, this category has been phased out by the French government and has been replaced by Indication Géographique Protégée, a denomination more closely aligned with the labeling standards of the European Union.
