Syvian Pataille with Wolfgang Frey, honorary Aligoteur and germany’s foremost expert on Aligoté.
The longer I am away from Burgundy, the bigger the tendency to get despondent about prices etc. However a flying visit to the the Les aligoteurs tasting on monday and a few producer visits affirms to me at least that Burgundy has plenty to offer in terms of decent priced wines and new producers. One just has to look.
I suppose firstly one must deal with the terroir issue. If you have a hang up about what it means etc, don’t go to Burgundy. When it comes to describing wines etc it is almost in every second sentence. Pontificating about blind tasting etc is pointless when confronted with the overwhelming convictions of the producers et al.
The Les Aligoteurs tasting was really interesting in this respect. A few years ago Anne Gros described Carginan as being one of the best terroir red grapes alongside Pinot Noir. Having tasted a comprehensive range of Aligoté from different climats, the term “terroir grape” comes to mind. Aligoté like Chardonnay seems amorphous and possesses a great abilitiy to mirror climats ideosyncracies. What also seems clear, the better the soils and the site and the older the grapes are, the more interesting the wines. Also Aligoté has a tremendous capability to cope with all sort of wine making techniques and not lose its identity.
An aligoté from Puligny was particularly striking as were one from Pernand-Vergelesses. From about 40 producers, there were very few I did not like. Ponsot, is the absolute standout.
Claude Boisset, Domaine Rougeot and Pavelot were for me excpetional. Sylvian Pataille, a study in terroir, when one can taste the three crus alongside one another, it becomes obvious why Pataille seperates them, each in their own right highly individual.
Maison Chanzy also deserves a mention.
Too many producer to go through individually. It is probably more about finding the style suitable to ones palate. I struggle with the high toned acidity driven examples but these are in the minority.
There was a table with older bottles, again Ponsot with the 2003 Mont Luisant, the real stand out. Also Bouvier, Nerthus, Goisot, Rougeot top.
Also really interesting to compare the vintages 2019, 2020, 2021 and in some cases 2022 alongside. 2020 is for me at least a massive vintage, 19 pales in comparison. 21 is very difficult, really comes down to the producer, some really nice balanced wines and then others where the aacidity is just too much. 2022 is really impressive, from what I have tasted so far in Chablis and Aligoté,
Aligoté is definitely not a grape that should be drunk young, a wait of two years seems sensible. Ten years seems to be the sweet spot for my taste.
My facit, anyone complaining about the prices of Burgundy, should delve into Aligoté,it is not Chardonnay, it is its own grape and an equal adversary to chardonnay in expressing terroir.
Also in terms of tastings, this was one of the best I have visited, a great sense of bon homie. You really felt the producers conviction and idealism for this fantastic grape.
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