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Aligoté: Burgundy’s other white wine plus 26 of the best to seek out
Burgundy’s ‘other’ white variety is stepping out into a spotlight of its own, with a momentum brought by a highly committed band of producers enthused by its sprightly charms and perhaps hidden potential.
Aligoté gets no respect. While Chardonnay is extolled as giving a wine of elegance, finesse, complexity and length, and has been called the world’s finest white wine grape, Aligoté is often considered inferior: Anthony Hanson MW noted in his influential 1982 work Burgundy (Faber & Faber), ‘…its wine has higher acidity and less length, flavour and roundness than that of the Chardonnay’.
Scroll down to see notes and scores for 26 of the finest Aligoté wines
Despite its comparative lack of finesse, Aligoté is fun, and today a generation of young winemakers is experimenting with Aligoté, with delicious results. It provides a lively, aromatic wine and is often very reasonably priced, in contrast to the more reserved, almost neutral aromas of Chardonnay and its increasingly hefty price-tag.
If there were an Oscar for Best Supporting Grape Variety in Burgundy, it would certainly go to Aligoté.
On the sidelines
Aligoté offers advantages to the wine-grower as well. The grapes are large and juicy, and the yields often higher than Chardonnay. The grapes have high natural acidity, which they retain until late in the ripening cycle – with global warming, this is one of its most attractive features. However, yields must be held in check, because if there are too many bunches on the vine, Aligoté can produce flavourless, mildly tart juice with little character. Producing wine that’s less expensive than Chardonnay or Pinot Noir, Aligoté is less profitable and thus often relegated to lesser sites too high on the slope or in the deep soils at its base, where it can make an insipid wine.
The grape was granted the appellation Bourgogne Aligoté in 1937. However, according to Burgundian historian Guillaume Grillon, the first written records of Aligoté date to the 18th century. By the 19th century, it was planted alongside Chardonnay in Montrachet and Corton-Charlemagne, and grower Jérôme Galeyrand speculates that it may be allowed back into more village sites and even in grand cru sites in years to come.
Aligoté can produce beautiful, long-lived wines when the grape is given a foothold in a top-quality site. Domaine Ponsot has been a supporter of Aligoté for more than a century, beginning with William Ponsot in 1911, who replanted his Clos des Monts Luisants after phylloxera to the same grape variety – Aligoté – that had existed there before. Ponsot’s vines are unique today since they are classified as premier cru Morey-St-Denis: the only climat in Burgundy to produce premier cru wine from Aligoté.
Maison Chanzy
(Image credit: Credit Unknown)
Golden opportunity
Although most Aligoté is still bottled with the regional appellation Bourgogne Aligoté, there is also a village appellation devoted to Aligoté: Bouzeron. It was recognised that this commune at the northern tip of the Côte Chalonnaise region produced exceptional Aligoté, chiefly from the superior Aligoté Doré clone. As the name indicates, this vine produces ripe, golden fruit that can age and improve for years, and the best sites in Bouzeron, such as Clos de la Fortune and Les Clous, are now seen as premier single-vineyard sites within this appellation. Pierre de Benoist, director of Domaine de Villaine, notes that this is only seen in the wine with time: ‘You have to wait four to six years before really tasting the quality of the terroir.’
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Aligoté covers nearly 2,000ha of Burgundian vineyards, 6.5% of the total. Most is still bottled with the regional Bourgogne Aligoté appellation, and it is also an allowed variety in AP Crémant de Bourgogne. The grape is found from the northern Auxerrois near Chablis to the southern reaches of the Mâconnais. It is produced in a profusion of still and sparkling styles, tank-fermented and barrel-aged, from light, crisp, refreshing wines for current drinking, to dense, rich white Burgundy eminently worthy of ageing.
This grape’s crisp, approachable nature makes it certain that its popularity will continue to grow. Galeyrand certainly endorses it: ‘I love Aligoté for its moderate alcohol, its aromatic profile, and natural freshness when ripe, and its capacity to age without heaviness, a bit like Riesling. The vine is interesting to grow – being slightly rustic, it is less fragile, resists disease, and comes back better than other grapes after a frost. It ripens well, but doesn’t climb too high in alcohol. Aligoté is the wave of the future, because it’s the cool, drinkable and affordable wine of Burgundy.’
The husband-and-wife team of Tomoko Kuriyama and Guillaume Bott are passionate exponents of Aligoté. They collaborate in their garage to produce beautiful, complex, approachable and wonderfully drinkable wines. Until recently, Bott had a day job making the white wines at Domaine Simon Bize while he and Tomoko produced their own label from purchased grapes.
In 2020, they began to acquire their vineyards, mainly in the Hautes-Côtes, and now both are all-in on their own project. The viticulture is organic, and the grapes are gently crushed before fermentation in large, neutral casks with minimal intervention. These slightly quirky wines will intrigue and delight lovers of modern-style wines. @chantereves
Bouzeron was first recognised in 1979 with the regional appellation Bourgogne Aligoté de Bouzeron, upgraded to AP Bouzeron in 1998. This evolution was primarily due to the influence of Aubert de Villaine of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, who settled in Bouzeron in the 1970s. Domaine de Villaine is based in Bouzeron, just south of the Côte d’Or at the northernmost end of the Côte Chalonnaise.
Today, the estate is run by Aubert’s nephew, Pierre de Benoist, and produces a revelatory old-vine Bouzeron. The vines have been certified organic since 1986 and are farmed according to biodynamic principles. The wine is fermented in large wood casks after a pre-fermentation maceration in steel, and is aged in cask on the lees without stirring for about a year to produce subtle wines of great complexity.
One of the founders of the growers’ group Les Aligoteurs, Jérôme Galeyrand is a Loire valley native and former cheesemaker who now makes wine from his base in Gevrey-Chambertin. Galeyrand produces various Aligoté wines from several terroirs, ranging from the Côte de Beaune to Bouzeron and elsewhere in the Côte Chalonnaise. Galeyrand farms organically and uses a vertical press before fermentation in older casks and a relatively short ageing with minimal sulphur added before bottling. The style is limpid and pure; engaging on release, the wines do benefit from a bit of age.
Among the notable producers of Bouzeron, none produces more single-site expressions than Maison Chanzy. The house is the proprietor of the only enclosed vineyard in the village: Clos de la Fortune. Chanzy farms nearly 25% of the appellation’s total surface and produces a classic and elegant style of wine using cool-temperature fermentations and ageing in tank, large demi-muid casks, and large wooden foudres to preserve the crisp, refreshing character of Aligoté.
It also makes lieu-dit designates from Bouzeron Les Clous, Les Cordères and Les Corcelles, as well as one that is a blend of several lieux-dits.
Sylvain Pataille
Sylvain Pataille
(Image credit: Credit Unknown)
Long a champion of the Aligoté grape, Sylvain Pataille was instrumental in the foundation of the group of growers known as Les Aligoteurs. He explains: ‘The alligator is an animal that wants to fight, wants to be alive – like Aligoté.’ Pataille produces a profusion of single-vineyard expressions, from Chenôve in the northern Côtes de Nuits to the cool, west-facing slopes of the Corcelles lieu-dit in Bouzeron.
He explains that the warmer, well-drained stony soils, such as Champ Forey in Marsannay, produce rich, exuberant wines, while cooler terroirs with more clay, such as La Charme aux Prêtres, produce more reserved wines with more freshness. He uses an old-fashioned vertical press and ferments with most of the lees to encourage some reduction. These are powerful, complex wines that deserve serious attention. +33 (0)3 80 51 17 35
Exemplary Aligoté: 26 of the best across Burgundy
Nicolas Morin, Ecrivains, Bourgogne Aligoté, Burgundy, France 2021
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Refreshing pear and mint aromas, spice and a smoky, reductive edge. The texture is lively and fresh but not lacking depth. Produced by micro-négociant Nicolas...
