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Appellation · France

Irancy

The Yonne’s red-wine appellation, making pale, sharp Pinot Noir at the northern limit of where it will ripen.

Irancy AOCcontinentalcool
What to expect in the glass

Light-bodied, pale Pinot Noir with sharp red cherry and redcurrant, high acidity and a firm, slightly rustic edge. Serve it cool.

About Irancy

Irancy sits in a sheltered amphitheatre south-west of Chablis and makes the only red wine of any consequence in the Yonne. At this latitude Pinot Noir ripens with difficulty, and the wines are correspondingly pale, sharp and firmly structured.

The appellation permits a small proportion of César, an old and obscure variety with heavy tannin, which some growers still use to add colour and grip.

Warmer growing seasons have transformed the appellation. Irancy in the 1980s was frequently under-ripe; it is now consistently making red wine that is lean rather than green — one of the clearest local illustrations of what a changing climate has done to a marginal site.

What the name means

Legal name
Irancy AOC
Type
Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée / Protégée (AOC / AOP)
Set by
INAO
Recognised
1999
Regulates
Origin, plus grape varieties, maximum yields, minimum ageing.

The delimited area, permitted varieties, maximum yields, minimum alcohol, pruning and training methods, and in many cases minimum ageing. Administered by INAO.

Worth knowing

Red wine only. Up to a small proportion of César, a local variety grown almost nowhere else, is permitted alongside Pinot Noir.

Grapes

Wines from here

red

Red Burgundy

Pinot Noir at its most perfumed and site-specific: pale, silky, high in acid, and the reference point for the variety worldwide.

Rules worth knowing

Confirmed in the EU register

Irancy is registered as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), file number PDO-FR-A0591, protected at EU level since 1982.

Article 107 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013

Only the rules that change what to expect in the glass or on the label. WineHQ does not reproduce production specifications, and each entry carries the date it was last checked because appellation rules change.

The designation is confirmed above. WineHQ has not read this appellation’s production specification, so it publishes no yields, ageing minima or permitted-variety lists for it — those come from the document linked above, not from a summary of it.

What to eat, and how to serve it

Derived from this region’s signature styles. Each is listed separately, because a region does not have one serving temperature.

Red Burgundy

Serve at 14–16°C (cellar cool).

Try with fillet steak, mushroom pasta or steak with béarnaise.

Where to go next

Places worth trying if you like this one — neighbours, rivals, and the obvious step across.

  • Chablis — Chardonnay grown far enough north, and usually without oak, to taste like nothing else the variety does anywhere.
  • Saint-Bris — The only appellation in Burgundy for Sauvignon Blanc — a variety the region otherwise does not grow at all.

Sources

Sources consulted