A Golden Age for Burgundy’s Other Great White Grape
by Tom Wolf
One thing I admire deeply about French cooking is its devotion to making every part of something delicious, not just the choicest cuts. Even if you go into the country’s best restaurants, it’s almost a badge of honor for the chef to treat ingredients that might have once been overlooked with the same level of creativity as their more distinguished counterparts.
This attitude translates to wine, too. Every region has its grapes that are popular—an equivalent to the ribeye or filet mignon—as well as its more obscure varieties—like the liver or cheek—that require a little more trust and adventurous spirit from the customer. Like the chef who is committed to using every part of an animal, or whatever the forager brings to the restaurant on a given day, it says something about a producer when they work not just with the grapes that are the most fashionable or commercially viable, but also the lesser-known ones that have deep roots in a region.
One of the most exciting such varieties today is Aligoté, in Burgundy. For a long time, Aligoté was so synonymous with the Kir cocktail that Kermit once told the Aubert de Villaine that he’d just found a good crème de cassis that would go well with Aubert’s Aligoté. (See the back page for the full exchange.)
And yet, it was true that very few growers were taking Aligoté as seriously as Aubert did back then. Today, it’s a different story. Many of Burgundy’s top growers are proudly elevating this once humble grape, no matter that it isn’t—and likely won’t ever be—as popular as Chardonnay or Pinot Noir. Still, because they’re devoting themselves to it, we are in the middle of a Golden Age for Aligoté.
2023 Bouzeron Aligoté
France | Burgundy
The most ambitious and storied Aligoté on this page, this Bouzeron is arguably the best example of the grape in all of Burgundy. Waves of flavor keep coming sip after sip: peach, saline minerality, apple, lemon zest, and a medley of herbs. Made from Aligoté Doré—the highest-quality, most aromatic, “golden” variety—it’s a gorgeous, mesmerizing rendition that should be kept as far away from your crème de cassis as possible!
2023 Bourgogne Aligoté
France | Burgundy
Despite making some of the noblest reds in Nuits-Saint-Georges, the Chevillons have a long tradition of devoting space in their cellar to the humbler wines of Burgundy: Passetoutgrain and Aligoté. Floral and citrusy, this is an entirely different expression of Chevillon than you may be used to, but a very worthy one.
2023 Bourgogne Aligoté
France | Burgundy
From .23 hectares of vines planted in Chassagne-Montrachet four decades ago, this is a live wire of a wine. Redolent of lime zest and sea spray, it’s begging to be paired with all kinds of shellfish.