Aligoté: how a lesser-known variety from Bourgogne is suddenly hitting the big time, with a bright future ahead of it
Website: https://aligoteurs.wordpress.com/
Tucked away in a wood, in Flagey-Échezeaux – at the heart of the Route des Grands Crus in Bourgogne – there’s a small restaurant and guest house that’s ground zero of the sudden rise to fame of a once neglected grape variety. The restaurant is Boisrouge, and it’s run by Philippe Delacourcelle, who is one of the founders of the organization Les Aligoteurs.
I’m here with Philippe and a few other groups who want to show me some great examples oc Aligoté, followed by some dinner. It’s not that I need much persuading: as a lover of these less fashionable varieties such as Gamay, Blaufränkisch or Melon de Bourgogne, I’m already a convert to Aligoté’s charms. Indeed, this is why I’m visiting Bourgogne in the first place. But others are yet to be convinced, and this is why there’s a need for an organization like this.
Aligoté was first recorded in Bourgogne in the 17th century, but it’s only in the last decade or so that it has been taken seriously. For a long time, it was largely relegated to the poorest terroirs and used to make a thin, acidic white wine that was often blended with cassis in attempt to make it drinkable, resulting in a drink known as kir. But glimpses of its potential were when it was planted on decent soils, making much richer wines, and also with a tendency to yield more generously than Chardonnay.
Pablo Chevrot, who is vice president, described how the Les Aligoteurs organization came to be. Noted chef Philip Delacourcelle of restaurant Bois Rouge in Flagey-Échezeaux started it in tandem with a few growers, including Sylvain Pataille, Laurent Fournier and others back in 2018. The first event was a salon tasting in April of that year.
The goal is to bring attention to those who are making good Aligotés. ‘We are not closed to any type of producer,’ says Pablo, so negociants are also welcome to join. ‘We are open to good quality: it is not a question of organic or without sulfites or negociant or winemakers. We make a brainstorming to find all the good Aligoté we know, and step by step the association grows.’
There is a selection committee, and they ask many questions to see if people are committed to quality, and then there is a blind tasting. There are now 64 members, mainly in Bourgogne. But wherever you are, you can join, if you send a sample that passes the taste test and there’s enough supporting material explaining why they want to join.
‘The one side of Aligoté we don’t like,’ says Pablo. ‘It is the dark side of Aligoté: very technical wines made from big yields.’ He adds, ‘we are open to skin contact, oxidative, Pet Nat.’
Aligoté has a very old story in the Côtes de Beaune. Some of the reputation for white wines from Corton Charlemagne used to come from Aligoté, not Chardonnay. But it’s difficult to maintain plots of Aligoté in regions like Meursault or Nuits-Saint-Georges because it’s economically so much more favourable to plant Chardonnay or Pinot Noir. Pablo says that he’s from the Maranges area and remembers when he was young that there were full plots of Aligoté in the vineyard area that counts as premier cru (when planted with Chardonnay), but these Aligoté plots disappeared when it was replanting time. Premier Cru or Aligoté? Premier Cru please!
Historically, he says, Aligoté makes good wine in drier soils that have thinner top soil, not in flat, heavy soils. It was planted in the flat fields at the bottom of the hills to make wines to blend with Kir. This was a bad thing for the variety. ‘Once it is planted in dry thin soils it makes Aligoté with fat, with oiliness, with depth, with minerality. It’s not true that Aligoté is not able to reflect the quality of the land.’
Sylvain Pataille weighs in: ‘Don’t forget that one of Aligote’s parents is Pinot Noir. It doesn’t like big yields and soils that are too heavy. In an old book from the 19th Century, they wrote that Aligoté is a prestige variety. But be careful: plant it in poor soil and prune it short to produce low yield. After, it is magic. But yield is a big factor.’
I asked about a version of Aligoté often talked about in the region called Doré. Apparently, it’s not a clone. Instead, there is a lot of variation in Aligoté, just as there is in Pinot Noir, and there are main types. The green ones (Aligoté Vert), which have huge big green grapes, and the yellow ones (Aligoté Doré) which make a lots of small berries that turn yellow and even orange very quickly. But at the end, when you ripen them, Aligoté is always yellow. It’s just that the green turns yellow a little slower.’ There are seven official clones of Aligoté that have been recognized, but as a group the Aligoteurs are working on isolating promising genetic material. Recently they have established a collection of more than 250 samples of Aligoté at a conservatory in Dijon, with examples selected from around the Bourgogne region. This is important work. Although it is only 6% of the plantings in Bourgogne, more Aligoté is currently being planted, so this figure will grow slowly.
The other parent of Aligoté is Gouais Blanc, but this is rarely found these days, and wines made from it are super rare. Sylvain has tried it, and says it is very acidic.
The most expensive Aligoté? That title would go to Charles Lachaux and his Aligoté Les Champs d’Argent. In 2018 he started a negociant operation driven by his love of this variety, and then the following year he grew this negociant range to six wines (the family domaine is Arnaux-Lachaux). It comes from a 0.6 hectare block of Aligote planted in the 1930s and 1990 at the bottom of Vosne-Romanée, and is vinified without any sulfites. Notes on this wine are included with the others below, and you can try it too if you are willing to stump up £663.46 for a solitary bottle, which is what Lay & Wheeler are broking this on behalf of a private client (they also have two bottles for £828.46 each).
So why the current interest in Aligoté? First of all, now that there’s a group of winegrowers who are taking this grape seriously, the wines are interesting, and sometimes compelling. Second, Aligoté has found favour with winegrowers choosing to work in a more low intervention way, and is on the radar of the natural wine crowd. The results have been really interesting. Third, some see this variety as being better adapted to warmer climates than Chardonnay because it holds its acidity and ripens a bit later.
One of the perceived advantages of Aligoté is something that used to be considered its weakness: naturally high acidity. Fabien Coche is a winegrower in Meursault, but he’s also an Aligoté fan, and was one of the first aligoteurs. ‘It has a bright future because of climate change,’ he says. ‘This is a grape with high acidity that’s harvested late.’
Aligoté is also interesting for many consumers in the increasingly expensive Bourgogne because it is usually fairly priced. One Aligoté fan is Bruno Verret, whose family have been winegrowers in Saint-Bris since 1750. It’s an interesting part of Bourgogne, close to Auxerre and not far from Chablis. He’s farming a sizeable 66 hectares of vines here, and if he makes Aligoté it’s labelled as Bourgogne Aligoté. I was curious about Bruno’s fondness for Aligoté. What makes it such an interesting variety? ‘It’s a grape that has a lovely diversity of terroirs and producers,’ he says, ‘with lots of different forms of élevage. Everyone has their own style. And Aligoté is accessible for consumers in taste and price.’
‘Aligoté has always been important for the domaine,’ he adds. It represents 20% of their production. ‘As we are in the north of Bourgogne, we make Aligoté with a nice freshness.’ Verret have 14 parcels of Aligoté of different ages and on different terroirs, and currently they blend them. Bruno is thinking of taking a couple of the more special plots and making bottlings of these climats. They can’t use the term ‘Saint-Bris’ on the Aligoté, though. Aligoté is considered just a regional level grape in Bourgogne, with the exception of the Bouzeron AOC in the Côte Chalonnaise. Before 2003 they could use Coteaux de Saint-Bris or Coteaux de Chitry for Aligoté, but now that Saint-Bris is an AOP there are limitations about how the name can be used.
Aligoté has been planted in some nice places, historically. In Corton Charlemagne they had some Aligoté co-planted in the vineyard, which would be included in the wine, adding freshness. ‘In my Aligoté, I begin harvest with it and end harvest with it,’ says Bruno, ‘with the other grapes in between. We need freshness, but also fatness.’ He thinks that Aligoté can be aged. ‘It ages in the same spirit as the Chardonnays according to the terroir.’
Albert Bichot is a Bourgogne negociant who make a wide range of wines. I visited with Matthieu Mangenot, technical director, who oversees the wines from vineyard to bottle.. One of their interests is Aligoté. ‘We do some Aligoté on a large scale and vinify a lot,’ says Matthieu. Their classic Aligoté is made in stainless steel, and is a strong seller in Canada especially in Québec. ‘But we also have single vineyard Aligoté cuvées with Domaine Adélie,’ he says. Does Aligoté have a future? ‘I’m sure it has,’ he says. ‘It was challenging for Aligoté to ripen in the past, but we see vintage after vintage that it has a future in terms of aromatics, structure and ability to age. It was not well considered and not treated as well as it should have been In the past. It is fun to see how it can adapt and how it can age, especially if you treat it like Chardonnay and work the lees. It has this green aspect that I really like.’ He adds, ‘We are still exploring how Aligoté can behave with some more lees contact. We want to keep the original aromatics, but also to have a nice wide mouthfeel with some structure. We are still working with this.’
I asked Pierre Sarrazin, of domain Michel Sarrazin, about his views on Aligoté. ‘We really like this grape variety. It is so different to Chardonnay,’ says Pierre. ‘Lots of Aligoté is made on the plain on less good plots, but this [his wine] is old vines on the slopes, and we can control the yield per plant. Aligoté can produce big yields but it’s often not interesting. You need to control your yields.’ He also thinks oak helps Aligoté when used well. ‘With the barrel you develop the flavour of the Aligoté.’ 60 hl/ha is the yield allowed, in 2021 they just made 40 hl/ha. Normally they do 50 hl/ha. ‘I think it is really interesting to have a warm vintage for Aligoté,’ says Pierre. ‘You have complexity, it’s full of volume, and Aligoté always has its acidity. It’s easier to grow Aligoté than Chardonnay. It is more resistant to oidium.’
Benoit Eschard took over the Jeannin-Naltet domaine a decade ago, after a career working as an engineer in Paris. It was 8.5 hectares, with 7 of those in Mercurey 1er Cru. ‘This domaine was a little bit of a sleeping beauty,’ says Benoit. ‘Half of the wines were being sold in bulk, and we were only bottling two wines.’ Now they bottle all their production and make eight different wines. They have also expanded their holdings to 10 hectares with new plots, including some Aligoté for the first time (they now have 0.5 hectares). Their first Aligoté was 2021. ‘I like Aligoté,’ says Benoit. ‘It’s new for me. Burgundy is Chardonnay and Aligoté was always a second thought, but if you take care with it you can get some great wines. It shows minerality and it’s more salty. It’s fresh with citrus flavours. It is not sensitive to oidium: less sensitive than Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Chardonnay is the most sensitive, and after Pinot Noir.’
He says high yields can be an issue. ‘It can produce a lot so you must take care: you can go up to 100 hl/ha. To be good it must get ripe. It can make more than Chardonnay with good qualities, so the permitted yields are higher than some other appellations. It is on a regional level appellation which isn’t necessarily the best plots, except for Bouzeron where we have the village appellation.’
There are two official appellations for Aligoté in Bourgogne. The first is Bourgogne Aligoté, and this is what most examples of this variety will be labelled as. The AOC was created back in 1937, and covers wines made from across Bourgogne, including the Auxerrois in the north, down to the Mâconnais in the south. But then in 1997, thanks to the efforts of Aubert de Villaine, Aligoté was awarded a village level AOC: Bouzeron, in the Côte Chalonnaise. There is just one premier cru Aligoté, and it’s a monopole from Ponsot, the Morey-St-Denis Blanc 1er Cru Clos des Monts Luisants. This is an exception, though.
There are 1974 hectares of Aligoté in Bourgogne, and 616 hectares in the Côte-d’Or, which is a surprisingly high figure. Of course, Aligoté isn’t just found in Bourgogne. It’s a variety that is beginning to interest people, but as yet few have found the courage to plant it elsewhere, except for large legacy plantings in central and eastern Europe. Moldova leads the way with around 16 000 hectares, followed by Ukraine (9500 hectares) and then Romania (around 7000 hectares). Russia has just over 1000 hectares planted.
THE WINES
95
Jarre A Bia 2019 Vin de France
12.5% alcohol. Skin fermented, with three months in amphora. Cloudy and exotic with sweet pear, apricot and lemon fruit, showing some chalky, crystalline detail. This shows great purity and depth with nice precision. Gives spice, volume and lovely exotic fruit, but finishes fresh, and with lovely saltiness. Remarkable stuff that’s very fine. 95/100
Champ Forey Bourgogne Aligoté 2020 France
More stone and less clay, vines planted in 30s 50s and 60s, aged for one year in barrels and one year in tank. No sulfites until racking after 1 year then bottled after This comes from Marsannay. Complex, lively intense and vivid with amazing power and keen lime and lemon notes. But there’s also some pear and peach richness, with fine spices and a touch of sour cherry and cabbage. So striking and beautiful. 95/100
René Bouvier Bourgogne Aligoté 2020 France
12.5% alcohol. Just tank (18 months). From Marsannay, gravelly alluvial soils. Sans Soufre Ajouté. So lively, precise and pure. Lovely acidity with amazing presence to the crystalline citrus fruit. Has lovely acidity with a sense of minerality in the mouth and lip-smacking lemony acidity. 95/100
Domaine Reunaud Boyer Bourgogne Aligoté 2022 Bourgogne, France
11.5% alcohol. This has a remarkable nose of sea spray, candle wax and crystalline citrus, with a twist of struck flint minerality. In the mouth it has some green apple, some sweet citrus, a touch of pear and then some tensile, layered acidity, finishing fresh and bright, with some salinity. A truly remarkable expression of Aligoté that’s quite profound. 95/100
Chanterêves ‘Les Chaignots’ Bourgogne Aligoté 2021 France
Lovely aromatics here: toasty, spicy and linear with lovely lime and pear fruit as well as fine toasty notes. This shows precision and mineral detail with subtle reductive hints. Such concentration and intensity: this is saline, expressive and quite remarkable. 95/100
94
Domaine Rougeot Les Plumes Bourgogne Aligoté 2021 France
12.5% alcohol. 1.5 hectare vineyard next to Meursault in 1974. No added sulfites. The angled label is without added sulfites, the normal label is with. Linear and spicy with keen acidity and lovely precision. There’s a nice pear and white peach richness with lovely intensity and spicy mineral notes. Such complexity here with a vibrant, mineral finish. 94/100
Roulot Bourgogne Aligoté 2018 France
12% alcohol. Lovely aromatics: floral lime, pear and some lime oil. Vibrant and concentrated with lemony intensity and good acidity. Mineral, layered and complex, with a bright stony core. 94/100
AMI Les Péteurs Bourgogne Aligoté 2020 France
No added sulfites. Based in Auxey Durresses, grapes come from northern Côtes de Beaune, two different vineyards. Really high acidity here with spicy mineral notes and keen lemony fruit. Lovely intensity with bright acidity. Such purity and presence with high acid dominating, keeping things bright and vivid. 94/100
Alice et Olivier De Moor Bourgogne Aligote 2019 Bourgogne, France
13.5% alcohol. This is quite beautiful. It’s just a tiny bit viscous, but not ropy. It has wonderful saline aromatics with oyster shell, citrus and pear fruit, and hints of white pepper and minerals. The palate is quite textural with some mid-palate depth and ripe pear and apple fruit, as well as crystalline citrus fruits. It starts bright, then gets quite broad an enticing, and then finishes with tapering lemon fruit, with and amazing saline, spicy detail. There are elements of top fino sherry in the background. Such a multifaceted wine. 94/100
De Moor Bourgogne Aligoté 2021 Bourgogne, France
12% alcohol. Fresh and beautifully saline with a core of citrus fruit as well as some green apple. Mineral and fine with a lovely acid line. Thrilling. 94/100
Charles Lachaux Aligoté Les Champs d’Argent 2018 Bourgogne, France
From a 0.6 hectare plot in Vosne-Romanée, this is the world’s most expensive Aligoté. This is textured and compact with sweet pear and citrus fruit. Taut and mineral with some depth. There’s a slight salinity and a crystalline quality with fine, spicy, peppery notes. Lots of interest here. 94/100
Sylvain Pataille Bourgogne Aligoté Clos du Roy 2023
Stony and detailed with brightness and nice complexity. This has good weight and some apple, pear and white peach fruit. Such freshness and energy here. 94/100
Nerthus Côtes de Nantoux Bourgogne Aligoté 2020
Based in Volnay. No-sulfite vinification in oak. Low yields. Amazing concentration and texture here with lovely mineral intensity. Textural and fine with tingling mineral, lemony acidity. Some saltiness here. So multidimensional. 94/100
Domaine La Soufrandière Aligoté Arigoté Cuvée Zen 2021 Bourgogne, France
11.5% alcohol. Very low sulfites here, just at bottling. Lovely intensity here. Bold, rich honeyed cherry and plum fruit with crystalline citrus and some nuts and honey. Bold and rich with some toasty notes but always really intense lemony acidity on the finish. Crystalline. Layered, finishing with some creamy notes. 94/100
Domaine Fabien Coche Bourgogne Aligoté Vieilles Vignes 2022
Bottled in May. Parcel of old vines in Meursault, planted in the 1950s. Hand harvest, older 500 litre barrels. Textural and detailed with lovely saline twist to the mineral, crystalline citrus and pear fruit. Lovely intensity with great intensity. This has a delicacy and finesse. 94/100
Julien Cruchandeau Bouzeron Massale 2021 Bourgogne, France
12.5% alcohol. Lovely aromatics here with gently honeyed citrus and pear fruit. The palate shows a lovely mineral dimension with great purity. Crystalline and fresh, and beautifully transparent. Beautiful stuff. 94/100
Domaine Chevrot Bourgogne Aligoté Tilleul 2021
A tough year because of frosts, but this plot escaped (this is a surprise because often Aligoté is more sensitive to frost) and mildew (although Aligoté is less sensitive to mildew). Harvested in October, which is not common today. This is bright and stony, with keen acidity. There’s a lovely focus here with some white peach and lemon notes. There’s good density with lots of fruit, but also a brisk acidity and a nice long, tapering mineral finish, and a touch of salinity. This is quite lovely, and slightly old school with all that acid. 93/100
93
Goisot Bourgogne Aligoté 2020 France
12.5% alcohol. This is from Saint-Bris. Old vines. Vivid and intense with ripe yellow fruits and nice citrus, with some spice and mineral notes. Really full but also fresh. Crystalline and bright. Finishes with a spicy thrill. Lovely balance here. 93/100
Lauren Pataille Bourgogne Aligoté 2019 France
13% alcohol. Lauren is Sylvain Pataille’s brother. In Marsannay, on an alluvial cone called Etelles. One year of ageing in barrels, one in tank. There’s a richness here with pear and peach, showing richness but also a lovely spicy, mineral streak. So fresh and vivid. But also rich and toasty. Lovely intensity. 93/100
Les Champs de Themis Les Corcelles Bouzeron 2019 Bourgogne, France
14% alcohol. Very old vines, organically farmed. Bold and rich with a warm, spicy, mineral undercurrent to the sweet peach, apple and citrus fruit. This has some depth and development. Rich but refined with lovely intensive rich fruit quality. 93/100
Olivier Morin Bourgogne Aligoté 2022 France
50 year old vines, Aligoté Dorée. Concentrated and dense with sweet pear, cherry and citrus fruit. Nice depth of flavour, showing stony mineral notes. Very expressive and fine with great precision. 93/100
Jean-Claude Boisset Bourgogne Aligoté 2015 France
Buy grapes from the same plot near Chorey each year. Lovely weight with some texture and some matchstick reduction. So mineral and refined with smoky notes, some struck match, and rich pear and peach fruit. So expressive with lovely acidity. Layered and complex. 93/100
Roux Père & Fils Bourgogne Aligoté Albus 2018 France
Skin fermented. This comes from Saint Aubin, and short maceration (2 weeks). Lovely freshmess, weight and texture here with minerals, dried herbs and spice. There’s some lemon and pear with lovely weight. This has great detail and focus with no obvious tannin. Lovely balance and weight. Precise finish. 93/100
Domaine Chevrot Bourgogne Aligoté Tilleul 2020
This was a great vintage for white wines in Bourgogne. It was a warm year with a mid-September harvest (Chardonnay began harvest in August). There were some showers at the end of maturation which was great for the white wines. All foudre. This has depth and focus with bold pear and citrus fruit as well as some white peach. There’s even a bit of structure here with a slight saltiness on the finish. Lovely depth of fruit. 94/100
Domaine Fabien Coche Bourgogne Aligoté Vieilles Vignes 2021
Linear, fresh and bright with a stony, salty edge with a lovely mineral twist. Good acidity here with a delicacy and purity with nice focus. A delicate but fine example of Aligoté showing a fine tapering finish. 93/100
Jeremy Recchione Bourgogne Aligoté Skin Contact Les Ceresiers 2021 France
Skin fermented. Aromatic peach, apricot and pear with lovely spicy pear skin detail. Very appealing with bright exotic fruit showing a little bit of structure showing lovely acidity. Tapering and fine with real detail and purity. 93/100
Domaine Adélie Bourgogne Aligoté Champ Renard 2022
Champ Renard is just outside Mercurey. Small plot with 5000-6000 bottle production each year. In tank and also 350 litre barrels, with some lees work. Crystalline, linear and pure with lovely acidity. There’s a nice depth to the pear and citrus fruit with mineral notes and a slight salinity. Juicy and fine, with some structure and depth, showing great precision and focus. Lovely purity here. 93/100
Domaine Michel Sarrazin Aligoté Charnailles 2022
They have 3 ha of old vine (1975) Aligoté, Aligote Doré, south facing, clay soils with some limestone. 50% barrels (500 litres, of which half are new) and tank. Complex, intense and quite mineral with a stony edge to the powerful citrus fruit with a brilliant mineral edge. Nice concentration here with a lovely spicy structure. Lots of intensity. 93/100
Aligotte! Bourgogne Aligoté 2019 France
12% alcohol. Made by Sylvain Pataille. 90% from a vineyard with 45 year old vines in the Hautes Côtes de Nuits (organically farmed, limestone soils) and 10% from pressings from Marsannay/Couchey. This gives structure. Fermentation and ageing in 4000 and 8000 litre foudres. This is very fresh and fine, with a slight salty edge to the intense apple and lemon fruit. There’s some pithy grip and spicy detail, and notes of fennel and apricot. It’s so well balanced with amazing precision, but also good concentration. A serious effort. 93/100
Domaine Michel Sarrazin Bourgogne Aligoté Charnailles 2021
There’s a distinctive apricot and pear edge to the nose, with great concentration and minerality with a saline twist. There’s a great intensity to this wine with lovely intensity to the fruit. Really nice intensity here. 93/100
92
Richard Angonin Les Bouchines Bouzeron 2020 Bourgogne, France
14% alcohol. Richard works in a lab and this is his homebrew. This is fresh, vivid and weighty with some oak in the mix: toasty, vivid, nice citrus fruit with lovely chiselled acidity. Such presence here but give it a little time for the oak to settle down. 92/100
Domaine de Rougeon La Cabane Bourgogne Aligoté 2019 France
Granite soils: black and pink. Old vineyards (80 years old), on the top of the hill, facing south. Near Monthelie in the Côtes Chalonnaise. The only part of the slope with granite. This has nice depth of fruit with sweet pear and apple with lovely citrus fruit, and some mandarin and a twist of citrus. It’s ripe and full with lovely texture and freshness. Granite gives warmness and low acidity. 92/100
Maison En Belles Lies Bourgogne Aligoté 2021 France
About 15 years ago this consultant winemaker decided to make his own wines, all without added sulfites. He’s based in Saint-Aubin and just uses vertical presses for whites. Lovely aromatics: some apricot, chalk, melon and lime, with a touch of mandarin. The palate is linear and fine with some lovely spicy hints, a touch of dried herbs and nice melony detail. Some pithy, herby notes, with some phenolics. 92/100
Domaine Verret Bourgogne Aligoté 2022 France
12% alcohol. Clay/limestone soils. Stainless steel, wild fermented. This is layered and quite complex with nice citrus and pear fruit with some stony mineral notes. It’s really expressive with nice lemony acidity, nice weight on the mid palate and a mineral, tapering finish with lovely delicacy. Such a fine expression of this variety. Not flashy, but really fine. 92/100
Domaine Adélie Bourgogne Aligoté Champ Renard 2021
Appealing nose with some apricot and peach richness as well as bright citrus, showing lovely open, fresh fruit. There’s an exotic character to the fruit, with nice freshness. Such nice presence here, with quite a bit of treble in the mix. 92/100
Jeannin-Naltet Bourgogne Aligoté 2022
All stainless steel. Generous and textured with pear and citrus as well as some lively spiciness. This has depth and texture, with a stony mineral edge. Incisive, showing depth of flavour, but also freshness and minerality. 92/100
91
Domaine Adélie Bourgogne Aligoté Champ Renard 2020
Nice depth and focus here with sweet pear and citrus, showing nice brightness and focus with some pear, spice and green apple. There’s a touch of nuttiness and a nice structural character. Some cabbage notes in the background, finishing with some pith and herbs. 91/100
Domaine Coteaux des Margots La Pie Rouelle Bourgogne Aligoté 2022 France
Mâconnais. Lively and vivid with juicy pear and cherry fruit with some mandarin and lime. Very bright and fruit-driven with crisp citrus at its core. Light, expressive and quite delicious. 91/100
PL & JF Bersan Bourgogne Aligoté 2015 Bourgogne, France
12.5% alcohol. This is from Saint Bris, with long ageing in stainless steel tank. Stony and mineral but with subtle toast, spice and cabbage, showing nice freshness and texture. Linear and fine with a nice clean character and not too much development. 91/100
Jeannin-Naltet Bourgogne Aligoté 2021
Small quantities so aged in used barrel. Some distinctive apricot and honey notes as well as bright lemony fruit and a touch of aniseed. Has some apple and spice and nice acidity, with lovely focus to the fruit. 91/100
Domaine Dupré Bourgogne Aligoté 2022
Organic. Stainless steel. Nice intensity here with a lovely stony intensity. Has nice intensity with a transparency to the mineral-laced, stony lemony fruit with a lively finish that just keeps on going. Tingly and intense on the finish. 91/100
Vignerons de Buxy Millebuis Bourgogne Aligoté Silex 2022
10% fermented in demimuids. This is bright and vivid with a powerful character: smoky, mineral and spicy with direct citrus fruit and some stony minerality. Bright and vivid with a nice freshness. Direct and mineral with nice acidity. 91/100
Domaine L’Echaugette Bourgogne Aligoté 2022
Chalky clay soils from the Mâconnais. Highly aromatic stony, chalky nose. Ripe but fresh with detailed pear, melon and apple fruit. Nice brightness and focus with a lovely melony edge and a lemony brightness on the finish, and some salinity. 91/100
Domaine Sylvaine & Alain Normand Bourgogne Aligoté 2022
The Aligoté comes from Igé. Stainless steel. Stony, fine and mineral with a smoky edge to the grapefruit and pear fruit. Nice intensity with ripe stone fruits and nice acidity. A rich style of Aligoté but with detail and finesse. 91/100
90
Domaine Verret Bourgogne Aligoté 2021 France
12% volume. A complicated vintage because of frost and then mildew. Lovely aromatics here: some apricot and honey with citrus and some spice. Lovely ripe, open, quite exotic fruit with lovely openness: apricot, table grape and even some melon. Quite distinctive. 90/100
Domaine Verret Bourgogne Aligoté 2020 France
12% alcohol. This has lots of interest. It’s quite mineral and stony but there’s nice development with a touch of melon and spice as well as linear citrus fruit. Has a stony edge with lovely fruit and hints of cabbaged and herbs. Stylish. 90/100
Vignerons de Buxy Millebuis Bourgogne Aligoté Sable 2022
Sands – decomposed gneiss. Between Buxy and Bissey. Fresh, linear and bright with some citrus fruit: lemon and mandarin. There’s a brightness here with lovely emphasis on the fruit. Has a directness and some floral aromatics. 90/100
Vignerons de Buxy Millebuis Bourgogne Aligoté Silex 2021
Some tropical apricot and pear notes here with a hint of cabbage. Lively and vivid with nice citrus fruit showing a nice acid line and some stony minerality. Very 2021 and quite appealing and vivid. 90/100
89
François Chapuis Bourgogne Aligote En Marigny 2022
12% alcohol. Nice texture here. Starts of simple and fruity then develops a mineral, stony edge to the lively pear and citrus fruit with nice transparency and weight. Slightly salty on the finish. 89/100
88
Les Vignerons de Mancey Bourgogne Aligoté 2022
11.5% alcohol. Linear and bright, but with some sweet pear and citrus fruit, showing nice weight and depth. Midweight, with this lovely mineral twist on the finish. Stony. 88/100
87
Vignerons de Buxy Buissonier Bourgogne Aligoté 2022
Stainless steel fermentation. Mostly clay/limestone soil. Nice texture here with some softness to the pure citrus and pear fruit. Some stoniness, with nice acidity under the rounded white peach and pear fruit. Has nice concentration of flavour. 87/100
