Aligoté deep dive

Unfortunately I have done a deep dive into Aligoté only in terms of drinking the wines:
Aligoté Study
Aligoté Study, pt. 2
Aligoté Study, pt. 3
Aligoté Study, pt. 4
Aligoté Study, pt. 5

I’ve found that Aligoté seems to have benefited quite a bit from the rising temperatures in Burgundy. It used to make quite shrill wines with tons of piercing acidity and very little fruit to balance that out. However, many Aligotés today show good sense of balance with more fruit, yet Aligoté still retains high levels of acidity, so it is very seldom you can get a flabby Aligoté. It also seems that the variety doesn’t accumulate much sugar, so the wines don’t get particularly alcoholic even in warmer vintages. However, I’ve noticed that in sufficiently warm (=hot) vintages, the wines tend to get a bit too soft, round and sweetly-fruited for my preference.

As for the clones, all I know there are just those two main clones: Aligoté Vert (typically considered a variety producing lighter, less fruity and more acid-driven wines) and Aligoté Doré (typically considered a variety producing bigger, more concentrated wines).

While you can find Aligoté Doré everywhere, I think a relatively high percentage of it has been planted in Bouzeron, the only Aligoté-exclusive appellation in Burgundy.

When it comes to the range of quality Aligoté can make, Ponsot’s Clos des Monts Luisants - their monopole of centenarian wines and the only white 1er Cru in Burgundy that allows for Aligoté instead of Chardonnay. When they’re young, they just feel like Aligoté that has seen some wood, but with age, these lose their obvious Aligoté quality and just become beautiful, classically styled white Burgundies.

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