--- title: "Pouilly-Fuissé Wine Tasting and the Roche de Solutré" description: "Rich white Chardonnay with 22 premier crus, below the limestone cliffs of Solutré and Vergisson. Taste in Fuissé, 1 h 10 from Beaune by private driver." url: https://www.cote-privee.com/villages/pouilly-fuisse lang: en updated: 2026-09-28 generated: 2026-10-08 image: https://www.cote-privee.com/og/villages/pouilly-fuisse.png --- # Pouilly-Fuissé > Pouilly-Fuissé: Burgundy's great southern white, grown beneath the limestone cliffs of Solutré and Vergisson. Pouilly-Fuissé is a wine village (Mâconnais), 1 h 10 by road (96 km) from Beaune. White wine · 22 premiers crus · Private driver from Beaune: €260 one way for the whole car, up to 4 guests. Pouilly-Fuissé covers four villages west of Mâcon: Fuissé, Solutré-Pouilly, Vergisson and Chaintré. It is about 70 minutes south of Beaune. The vineyards roll below two striking limestone cliffs, the Roche de Solutré and the Roche de Vergisson, and make only white wine, from Chardonnay. ## Key facts - Type: Wine village - Region: Mâconnais - Location: 85 km south of Beaune · Mâconnais - Coordinates: 46.2804, 4.7426 - 1 h 10 from Beaune - White wine - 22 premiers crus - Appellations: Pouilly-Fuissé - Grapes: Chardonnay - From Beaune: ≈ 1 h 10 · 96 km - €700 for a [full-day wine tour](https://www.cote-privee.com/wine-tours/full-day) plus two hours, from Beaune, up to 4 guests ## Getting there - [Private driver from Beaune](https://www.cote-privee.com/private-driver): 1 h 10 by road (96 km), €260 one way for the whole car. Coming by train or plane? [Transfers from stations and airports](https://www.cote-privee.com/transfers) Estimates per vehicle for up to 4 guests, tolls included. Your price is confirmed when you book. ## History People have lived around the Roche de Solutré for at least 55,000 years. Excavations began at its foot in 1866, where a mass of horse bones lay exposed. Diggers found hearths, flint tools and bones of reindeer, horse, elephant, wolf and cave lion. The site proved so rich that it gave its name to a Stone Age culture, the Solutrean. Both Solutré and Vergisson are fossil coral reefs, formed about 160 million years ago in warm seas. Chardonnay grew on the slopes of the hamlet of Pouilly by the 18th century, and Fuissé and Pouilly lie at the roots of the appellation, created in 1936. From the 1980s the Roche de Solutré became famous through President François Mitterrand's yearly climb. The area became a Grand Site de France in 2013. In 2020, ten years after growers first applied, 22 climats were classified as premiers crus, the first in the Mâconnais. ## The wines Pouilly-Fuissé is white only, from Chardonnay, on about 757 hectares, of which some 158 are premier cru. Vines face east or south-east at 200 to 300 metres. They grow on clay-limestone soils of Jurassic origin mixed with scree, below cliffs of hard fossil coral that resisted erosion. The wines tend to be richer and rounder than most Mâconnais whites, with ripe fruit, a firm mineral line and good ageing potential. **Well-known premiers crus (22 premiers crus)**: Les Crays, Les Ménétrières, Vers Cras, Le Clos de Monsieur Noly, La Frérie, Sur la Roche ## What to see ### Roche de Solutré The limestone cliff rises to 493 metres. A path climbs its gentle eastern side to the top, with wide views over the vineyards, the villages and the Saône plain. ### Musée de Préhistoire de Solutré Opened in 1987 at the foot of the rock, the museum sits under a planted dome and shows finds from the site, with an archaeological and botanical park. ### Maison du Grand Site The visitor centre of the Grand Site de France, with an interpretation space and a café. A good starting point for walks around Solutré and Vergisson. ### Fuissé The heart of the appellation, with a large 19th-century neo-Gothic church whose tower lacks its spire, an old wash-house and typical Mâconnais stone houses. ## Good to know Plan a full day, with about 70 minutes each way. Climb or admire the Roche de Solutré, visit the museum, then taste in Fuissé. Saint-Véran and the Cité des Climats in Mâcon are close by. ## Did you know? The famous tale of prehistoric hunters driving wild horses off the Roche de Solutré is not archaeology. It comes from a novel published in 1872 by Adrien Arcelin. ## Around Pouilly-Fuissé What to combine with Pouilly-Fuissé on the same day, nearest first. ### Villages - [Saint-Véran](https://www.cote-privee.com/villages/saint-veran) (3 km away): Fresh Chardonnay from villages that wrap around Pouilly-Fuissé, beneath the Roche de Solutré. - [Viré-Clessé](https://www.cote-privee.com/villages/vire-clesse) (20 km away): Two neighbouring villages of the Haut-Mâconnais, joined in one appellation for generous Chardonnay. ### Châteaux - [Château de Fuissé](https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/chateau-de-fuisse) (1 km away): The Vincent family's historic estate in Pouilly-Fuissé, home of the appellation's only monopole premier cru. - [Château de Vinzelles](https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/chateau-de-vinzelles) (2 km away): Two neighbouring castles above Vinzelles, linked by a vat house with great wooden wine presses. - [Château de Monceau](https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/chateau-de-monceau) (7 km away): Lamartine's wine château near Mâcon, where he wrote in a small wooden pavilion among the vines. - [Château de Pierreclos](https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/chateau-de-pierreclos) (7 km away): A medieval castle turned wine estate on a rocky spur near Solutré, full of Lamartine memories. - [Maison de Lamartine](https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/maison-de-lamartine-milly) (8 km away): The childhood home of Alphonse de Lamartine, a winegrowers' house that inspired some of his finest poems. - [Château de Chasselas](https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/chateau-de-chasselas) (2 km away): A three-towered castle with glazed-tile roofs in the Saint-Véran hills, long the heart of a wine estate. - [Château d’Estours](https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/chateau-d-estours) (6 km away): A moated fortified house south of Mâcon, fought over by Écorcheurs and Mâcon militias. - [Château de Chazoux](https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/chateau-de-chazoux) (8 km away): A modest wine estate house near Mâcon that hides richly painted rooms and a landscaped park. ### Things to do - [Domaine Luquet Depuis 1878](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/domaine-luquet-fuisse) (1 km away): A family estate in the heart of Fuissé since 1878, with six generations of Pouilly-Fuissé and Saint-Véran. - [Solutré Museum of Prehistory (Musée de Préhistoire de Solutré)](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/musee-de-prehistoire-de-solutre), 3 km away: A half-buried museum at the foot of the rock, telling the story of Solutré's Ice Age hunters. - [Rock of Solutré (Roche de Solutré)](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/roche-de-solutre), 3 km away: A limestone escarpment rising above the Pouilly-Fuissé vineyards, famous for its Ice Age hunters. - [Cave de Vinzelles-Loché](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/cave-de-vinzelles-loche) (3 km away): The 1929 cooperative of Vinzelles and Loché, where three Pouilly appellations can be tasted side by side. - [Rock of Vergisson (Roche de Vergisson)](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/roche-de-vergisson), 4 km away: Solutré's quieter twin, a limestone cliff above the village of Vergisson with views across the vineyards. - [Château de la Greffière et Musée de la Vigne et du Vin](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/chateau-de-la-greffiere-musee-de-la-vigne-et-du-vin) (8 km away): A family estate between Mâcon and Cluny, with a museum of 2,000 old tools and an 18th-century tasting cellar. - [Église Saint-Pierre de Mâcon](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/eglise-saint-pierre-macon) (7 km away): Mâcon's largest church, a neo-Romanesque landmark whose twin spires rise above the Saône. - [Ursulines Museum, Mâcon (Musée des Ursulines)](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/musee-des-ursulines-macon), 8 km away: Mâcon's museum of art and archaeology, in a 17th-century convent, with rooms devoted to Lamartine. - [Pont Saint-Laurent](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/pont-saint-laurent-macon) (8 km away): The oldest bridge across the Saône, joining Mâcon to the Ain on twelve stone arches. ### Restaurants - [L’O des Vignes](https://www.cote-privee.com/restaurants/l-o-des-vignes-fuisse) (1 km away · 1 MICHELIN star): A Meilleur Ouvrier de France cooking in the heart of Pouilly-Fuissé. - [La Table de Chaintré](https://www.cote-privee.com/restaurants/la-table-de-chaintre) (3 km away · 1 MICHELIN star): One menu a week, one husband-and-wife team, in a former village grocery near Mâcon. - [L’Auberge du Cep](https://www.cote-privee.com/restaurants/auberge-du-cep-fleurie) (10 km away · 1 MICHELIN star): A historic inn in the Beaujolais cru village of Fleurie, starred again since 2021. - [La Huchette](https://www.cote-privee.com/restaurants/la-huchette-replonges) (11 km away · 1 MICHELIN star): Bresse produce with a Mediterranean accent, just across the Saône from Mâcon. ### Guides about Pouilly-Fuissé - [Burgundy’s grape varieties](https://www.cote-privee.com/guides/burgundy-grape-varieties) - [Burgundy wine classification](https://www.cote-privee.com/guides/burgundy-wine-classification) - [A Burgundy wine day from Lyon](https://www.cote-privee.com/guides/burgundy-wine-day-from-lyon) - [Wine tour itineraries from Beaune](https://www.cote-privee.com/guides/burgundy-wine-tour-itineraries) ## Questions about Pouilly-Fuissé ### How far is Pouilly-Fuissé from Beaune? Pouilly-Fuissé is about 1 h 10 from Beaune by road (96 km). With a private driver, the trip from Beaune starts at €260 for the whole car, up to 4 guests. ### What wines is Pouilly-Fuissé known for? Pouilly-Fuissé makes mostly white wines under these appellations: Pouilly-Fuissé. It has 22 premiers crus. Its best-known premiers crus include Les Crays, Les Ménétrières, Vers Cras. ### Can you taste wine in Pouilly-Fuissé? Yes. Many domaines in Pouilly-Fuissé receive visitors, usually by appointment. On a wine tour your driver plans the route and helps you book the tastings, which you pay directly to the domaines. ### Can a private driver take us to Pouilly-Fuissé? Yes. Your driver collects you in Beaune or at your hotel in an electric Polestar 2 (up to 4 guests), waits while you visit and plans the rest of the day with you. The driver speaks English, French, Mandarin Chinese and Arabic. → [Full-day wine tour plus two hours, €700](https://www.cote-privee.com/wine-tours/full-day) ## Book - [Book a driver here](https://www.cote-privee.com/book?service=wine-tour&option=full&place=village:pouilly): Full-day wine tour plus two hours from Beaune: €700 for the car, up to 4 guests ## Sources - - - - - --- Canonical page: