{"title":"Aligote","description":"\u003cp\u003eAligoté is a historic white grape of Burgundy, long overshadowed by Chardonnay but increasingly valued for its freshness and versatility. First documented in the region in the 18th century, it was traditionally used in everyday wines or blended with crème de cassis for Kir. Today, quality-minded producers—especially in Bouzeron, the only communal AOC dedicated to the grape—are showing its potential when grown on limestone soils and handled with care. Aligoté typically offers high acidity, light body, and flavors of green apple, citrus, and subtle herbal notes, making it a crisp, food-friendly alternative to richer white varieties.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"domaine-les-petits-lieux-bourgeons-bourgogne-aligote","title":"Domaine Les Petits Lieux Bourgogne Aligoté 2023","description":"\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Giuliana","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47466019717343,"sku":null,"price":38.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/PA072122.jpg?v=1759888555"},{"product_id":"domaine-marquis-d-angerville-bourgogne-aligote-2023-1-5l","title":"Domaine Marquis d’Angerville Bourgogne Aligoté 2023 1.5L","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Land\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe most famous name in Volnay makes its least expensive white from the flattest ground in the commune. D'Angerville's Aligoté comes from about 0.4 hectares in the lieu-dit Monpoulain, two plots on the eastern side of Volnay, out on the level land below the hillside where the premier crus sit. Aligoté is a naturally high-acid grape, so this flatter, richer ground gives it some body without taking away its bite. That is the logic of the wine: a sharp grape on a site that fills it out just enough. The plot gets the same biodynamic farming as the Clos des Ducs, which is unusual care for an appellation-level white.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Bourgogne Aligoté 2023 is 100% Aligoté, bottled early in the summer after harvest to keep its snap. 2023 was a warm, abundant vintage in the Côte de Beaune, and the domaine brought in a full crop with only light sorting and no green harvesting. The house style is pale and bright: citrus and orchard fruit, the slightly bitter grip of Aligoté skins, a metallic, stony minerality and salinity through a broad, mouth-filling middle. The warm year gives a little more body than usual without dulling the acidity. Drink it over the next two to three years, cold, while it still has its edge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrançois Duvivier is the reason d'Angerville's smallest wines get the same attention as its greatest. Guillaume d'Angerville put him in charge of the vines and cellar in 2005, two years after taking over the domaine, and he has led the farming through the biodynamic conversion that began in 2006 and the run of hail, drought and frost that followed. In 2023 he and Guillaume picked only in the mornings to keep the fruit cool, and that goes for the Aligoté as much as the premier crus. The two also built Domaine du Pélican in the Jura together, which says something about how far that partnership has gone.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA magnum of Aligoté is a party wine, and it wants party food. Steam mussels in white wine, shallots and parsley and set the pot in the middle of the table. A board of jambon persillé, cornichons and crusty bread is what Burgundians would serve. Fried chicken with lemon and flaky salt shows how well its acidity cuts fat, and a croque monsieur with Gruyère is the brunch answer. Chill the magnum for two hours, put it in a bucket of ice, and pour it for twelve.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Stelvio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47560628797663,"sku":null,"price":158.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/PB170238.jpg?v=1763514281"},{"product_id":"joseph-philippe-roty-gevrey-bourgogne-aligote-2020","title":"Domaine Joseph Roty Bourgogne Aligote 2020","description":"","brand":"Voyager Wine Merchants","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49174389227743,"sku":null,"price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/P5160183.jpg?v=1779131517"},{"product_id":"sylvain-pataille-bourgogne-aligote-2023","title":"Sylvain Pataille Bourgogne Aligote 2023","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Land\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAligote is Burgundy's other white grape, the one long dismissed as thin and sour, fit only for splashing into a Kir. Sylvain Pataille has done more than anyone to prove that reputation wrong. His Bourgogne Aligote comes from old vines around Marsannay at the northern end of the Cote de Nuits, split between two sites: Champ Forey, on limestone and gravel, and Auvonnes, on clay and marl studded with small stones. That same limestone and marl grows serious Pinot Noir, and in the right hands it gives Aligote a structure and minerality closer to premier cru white Burgundy than to the simple carafe wine most people expect.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e100% Aligote Dore, the finer old strain of the grape, from vines averaging 50 years old. The fruit is direct-pressed and fermented with ambient yeast, roughly two-thirds in used barrels and one-third in tank, then aged about 12 months with only a small amount of sulfur added at bottling. 2023 was a strong year for white Burgundy, bright and precise, and it shows here as mineral freshness, citrus, and white flowers over a taut, balanced palate with real length. There is nothing thin about it; this is Aligote made with the seriousness usually reserved for Chardonnay.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSylvain Pataille is the grape's most persuasive advocate, a grower who deliberately hangs onto tiny parcels of ancient Aligote vines that others would have pulled out long ago. He founded his Marsannay domaine in 1999 with a single hectare and now farms around 17 hectares, certified organic and worked biodynamically, with horse-ploughing, high-density planting, and very low yields. Trained as an oenologist and once a sought-after consultant, he built his own reputation partly on reviving a grape the rest of Burgundy had written off. His Aligotes are now benchmarks, and they have pulled the whole category up with them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAligote is a natural with Burgundian classics. Pour it with warm gougeres, a dozen oysters, escargots in garlic butter, or a round of tangy goat cheese. Its high acidity and saline cut make it ideal for briny and buttery dishes alike, and it is bright enough to wake up fried fish or a simple green salad with vinaigrette. Serve it well chilled as an aperitif, or bring it to the table with the first course.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harvest","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50592922861791,"sku":null,"price":41.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/P7230746.jpg?v=1785128774"},{"product_id":"maison-gautheron-danost-bouzeron-les-loueres-2024","title":"Maison Gautheron d'Anost Bouzeron 2024","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Land\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBouzeron is the only village appellation in Burgundy made exclusively from Aligoté. Everywhere else in the region the grape is confined to the regional Bourgogne Aligoté label; here it has its own name on the map, promoted from Bourgogne Aligoté de Bouzeron to full village status in the late 1990s after a campaign three growers started in 1974 and Aubert de Villaine, co-director of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and a Bouzeron resident since the early 1970s, carried across the line. From 1973 he selected specifically for Aligoté Doré, the older, lower-yielding, golden-berried strain, rather than the more productive green-skinned Aligoté Vert. The appellation covers 62.47 hectares between 270 and 350 meters, facing east and southeast, on white marls from Oxfordian limestone up top and brown marly soils from Bathonian limestone lower down. The slopes are steep, the soils thin, and the Aligoté takes the upper ground.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e100% Aligoté at 12%, from old vines. Gautheron d'Anost works in small volumes, ferments on ambient yeast, uses a fraction of barrel with the rest in stainless, and keeps élevage short. Sulfur goes in at the start of fermentation and then not again until bottling. Lemon zest, apricot, a floral edge, creamy in texture with lively acidity and a saline, persistent finish. On 2024: the Côte Chalonnaise caught the April frost along with the Hautes-Côtes and Chablis, and losses across the region were significant, but southern Burgundy outperformed the north qualitatively in this vintage. The wines came in lower in alcohol and higher in acid than the recent norm, which for Aligoté is not a compromise. It is the target.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBastien Gautheron founded Maison Gautheron d'Anost in 2020, first generation, with no domaine behind him. Anost is a Morvan village west of the Côte d'Or where his mother's family comes from. He began oenology at 15, trained at the Lycée Viticole de Beaune, worked at Olivier Leflaive in Puligny-Montrachet until 2019, and now makes roughly 12,000 bottles a year out of a converted warehouse in Dijon's Arsenal district. About a fifth of production comes from his own vines in Savigny-lès-Beaune and the Hautes Côtes de Beaune, certified organic since 2017; the rest is bought fruit from growers farming organically or effectively so, not all of it certified. This bottle illustrates the strategy well. Rather than fight for allocations in the famous villages, he goes to appellations where the wine is better than the reputation and finds growers with old vines in them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBouzeron is the Aligoté that can carry a course rather than just the hour before one. Oysters and crustaceans to start, then veal in cream sauce, a mushroom risotto, or a chèvre with some age on it. Gougères, always, if people are standing around the kitchen. Serve at 10 to 11 degrees. If you have never taken Aligoté seriously, this is the appellation that makes the argument, and 62 hectares does not amount to many bottles.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"LeDuc Wine Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50897708744927,"sku":null,"price":48.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/PA240594.jpg?v=1792876221"},{"product_id":"maison-gautheron-danost-bourgogne-aligote-bien-urbain-2024","title":"Maison Gautheron d'Anost Bourgogne Aligoté Le Bien Urbain 2024","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Land\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLe Bien Urbain is not a lieu-dit, which is worth saying plainly because the name reads like one. It is Bastien Gautheron's own coinage, a pun on his move into central Dijon. The fruit is Aligoté from a high-quality plot in Marsannay that he is in the process of acquiring, sold as regional Bourgogne Aligoté because that is what the appellation rules require. Marsannay is mid-Jurassic clay-limestone running 255 to 390 meters with east to southeast exposure, the northern doorway of the Côte de Nuits. Aligoté itself has spent a century dismissed as thin acid for kir, which ignores its parentage: Gouais Blanc crossed with Pinot, the same cross that produced Chardonnay. The rehabilitation has been running for fifteen years, and Les Aligoteurs, an association founded in 2018 and now some 70 growers strong, campaigns for lower yields and better sites.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e100% Aligoté, 12.5%. One third raised in barrel, two thirds in stainless steel, ambient yeast, short élevage, a small sulfur addition at the start of fermentation and nothing further until bottling. Apricot, nectarine and citrus peel, a creamy texture from the barrel portion, slightly reductive in the useful sense, and the variety's acid running hard down the middle. This is only the second release; the cuvée debuted with the 2023. 2024 was the most difficult Burgundy vintage in a generation: April frost, 38 days of rain across May and June, mildew that pushed spray passes past 17, and a crop more than a third smaller than 2023, though whites came through markedly better than reds. The upside of a cool, wet, low-alcohol year is that it flatters a grape whose entire argument is freshness.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBastien Gautheron founded Maison Gautheron d'Anost in 2020 with no family estate behind him, which in Burgundy is close to starting from nothing. Anost is a Morvan village west of the Côte d'Or where his mother's family comes from. He began oenology studies at 15, went through the Lycée Viticole de Beaune, and worked at Olivier Leflaive in Puligny-Montrachet until 2019. About 20% of his production comes from his own vines in Savigny-lès-Beaune and the Hautes Côtes de Beaune, certified organic since 2017; the balance is bought fruit from growers working organically or effectively so, not all of it certified. He is unusually clear about where he stands on natural wine: a little sulfur at the start of fermentation, nothing more until bottling, and no interest in the label. Roughly 12,000 bottles in 2024, made in a converted warehouse in Dijon's Arsenal district.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAligoté exists, more or less, for the Burgundian aperitif hour, and gougères are still the correct answer. Beyond that: oysters, a plate of cold shrimp with mayonnaise and lemon, veal in cream sauce, or a mushroom risotto where the acid keeps the dish from going heavy. Fresh goat cheese with olive oil and cracked pepper is the no-effort version. Serve at 10 degrees. Aligoté is the most useful white in Burgundy and still the cheapest, and that second part will not hold much longer.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"LeDuc Wine Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50900121485535,"sku":null,"price":44.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/P9180342.jpg?v=1789770587"},{"product_id":"domaine-les-petits-lieux-bourgogne-aligote-2024","title":"Domaine Les Petits Lieux Bourgogne Aligoté 2024","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Land\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAligoté is Burgundy's other white grape, and for most of the last century it was the one you planted where Chardonnay would not ripen: flat ground, cold pockets, the leftover rows. That has changed, and this bottling draws on two of the areas driving the change. The fruit comes from around Meursault in the Côte de Beaune and from the Côte Chalonnaise to the south, both of them limestone country. Meursault's slopes give marl and limestone with genuine depth of soil. The Chalonnaise, a broken continuation of the Côte d'Or scattered across a geological fault, gives similar rock at slightly higher elevation with wider variation in exposure and colder nights. Aligoté planted on limestone keeps its acidity high and its aromatics tight, which is the same reason Chardonnay works here.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne hundred percent Aligoté. The house method is hand-harvesting, fully destemmed fruit, and aging in traditional 228-liter pièces bourguignonnes, with the whites given a longer élevage than the reds. 2024 was a brutal growing season and a good one for this grape. Burgundy took roughly double its average rainfall, around 1,200 millimeters, with 97 fewer hours of sunshine than normal and downy mildew pressure that had Côte de Beaune growers spraying fifteen times or more. Chardonnay and Aligoté flowered in a better window than Pinot Noir and escaped the worst of it. August turned the vintage, delivering over 300 hours of sun, seventy above average, and harvest ran from roughly September 12 to September 24. The wines came in lean and precise: chalk, green apple, lemon rind and a salty, slightly bitter grip that separates good Aligoté from merely tart Aligoté.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLes Petits Lieux made its first wines in 2023, but the address is not new. Guillaume Rouget and Laure Guilloteau took over Henri Jayer's former cuverie in Vosne-Romanée and restored its original equipment, and these are the first wines vinified in that building in more than two decades. Rouget is Jayer's great-nephew and the son of Emmanuel Rouget, the man who inherited Jayer's vines and his method, and he has been making wine at Domaine Emmanuel Rouget since 2009. Guilloteau is an oenologist. The name comes from a line of Jayer's about the winemaker's duty to stand humble before so much richness concentrated in so small a place. They own no vineyards. This is a deliberate micro-négoce built on buying the best fruit they can find.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAligoté was made by circumstance for exactly this. Gougères, warm from the oven, the Burgundian reflex. Escargots in garlic butter, where the acidity resets your palate between each one. A slab of country pâté with cornichons and sharp mustard. Or the simplest version, a wedge of Époisses or young Comté and a baguette. Keep a bottle in the door of the fridge for the nights when dinner is really just cheese and bread.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Giuliana","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51247712043231,"sku":null,"price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/P8220191.jpg?v=1787526007"},{"product_id":"domaine-marquis-d-angerville-bourgogne-aligote-2024","title":"Domaine Marquis d’Angerville Bourgogne Aligoté 2024","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Land\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAligoté is Burgundy's other white grape, grown here for centuries alongside Chardonnay and long treated as the base for kir. That reputation undersells it. Planted in the right place and farmed seriously, it makes a sharper, more saline white than Chardonnay, and a growing number of top domaines now bottle it with real care. D'Angerville's Aligoté comes from a single plot in the commune of Volnay, on the flat eastern side of the village rather than on the premier cru slope. Its lower position produces a wine built on acidity and freshness instead of weight, which is exactly the point of Aligoté. The same family that farms Volnay's premier crus farms this plot, with the same biodynamic approach.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Bourgogne Aligoté 2024 is 100% Aligoté, bottled early, in the summer after harvest, to hold onto its snap. The house style is orchard fruit and lime, waxy lemon pith, a streak of metallic, stony minerality, then salinity and bright energy through a clean, cutting finish. 2024 was a very wet year across Burgundy, with rainfall near double normal through winter and spring, a difficult flowering and months of mildew pressure, and Guillaume d'Angerville counts it among the hardest seasons in the estate's history. White grapes fared better than red, and the Côte de Beaune whites came in taut and mineral, a style that suits Aligoté from Burgundy very well.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDomaine Marquis d'Angerville is now in the hands of its next generation as well as its current one. Guillaume d'Angerville, who took over in 2003 after the death of his father Jacques, has been joined by his daughter Margot, who came to the domaine in 2023 and is training to lead it in time. Guillaume has also looked beyond Volnay. In 2012 he and régisseur François Duvivier founded Domaine du Pélican in the Jura, near Arbois, working Savagnin, Chardonnay, Trousseau, Poulsard and Pinot Noir, and in 2015 the vineyards of the retiring Jacques Puffeney, one of the Jura's most admired growers, were entrusted to them. The same attention to detail runs from the Clos des Ducs all the way down to a humble Aligoté.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a white built for food with some salt and fat in it. A dozen oysters on the half shell with mignonette is the obvious and correct choice. Gougères, warm from the oven and heavy on the Gruyère, are what Burgundians serve with Aligoté. Fish tacos with cabbage slaw and lime crema love its acidity, and a goat cheese salad with walnuts and a mustard vinaigrette plays to its sharp, citrus side. Add a splash of crème de cassis for a proper kir if you like. Keep a bottle cold for the nights when dinner is quick but you still want the wine to be good.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Stelvio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51408274620639,"sku":null,"price":74.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/P9170331.jpg?v=1789709889"},{"product_id":"walter-scott-aligote-x-novo-vineyard-2024","title":"Walter Scott Aligote X Novo Vineyard 2024","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Land\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Eola-Amity Hills sit farther south than the Dundee Hills, which should make them warmer. They are not. A breach in the Coast Range called the Van Duzer Corridor funnels cold Pacific air into these hills every afternoon, and nights run roughly 10 degrees cooler than the northern Willamette Valley. X Novo sits in Spring Valley along the Holmes Gap at 525 feet, square in the path of that wind, on extremely rocky Gelderman clay over basalt. Wind thickens skins and slows sugar while acid holds. Rocky clay restricts vigor and drains hard. Craig Williams, long the winemaker at Joseph Phelps, bought this land in 2010 to plant white grapes, and the 3.5-acre core block carries over 15 Pinot Noir and 20 Chardonnay selections. The site is farmed organically.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAligoté from Oregon barely exists. In Burgundy the grape is the understudy, taken seriously in one place, Bouzeron, where it makes a lean, saline white that most of France still mixes into kir. On a cold, windy, rocky site like X Novo it behaves far more like Bouzeron than like anything Chardonnay does here. The 2024 season was hard here: an April frost and a cold snap during flowering cut yields, disease pressure ran high, and ripening came slowly to a later harvest. Ken Pahlow's whites finished the year at pH 3.1 to 3.18, and he bottled early to hold onto freshness. The result is lime and lemon rind, white peach, wildflowers and wet stone, then green pear skin, salty earth, a chalky texture and a round mineral finish rather than a sharp one. This is Willamette Valley white wine with no interest in richness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKen Pahlow and Erica Landon started Walter Scott in 2008 with 20,000 dollars out of their retirement savings. The name honors his grandfather Walter, a Trans World Airlines flight engineer, and his nephew Scott, who died young. Pahlow worked harvests at St. Innocent under Mark Vlossak, then ran Northwest sales for Evening Land, where Dominique Lafon mentored him through 2010 and 2011, and took a 2009 harvest at Patricia Green. Landon was a sommelier running wine programs in Oregon's best restaurants; the two met in 2002 when Ken was selling her wine. They built a winery next to Justice Vineyard for the 2014 harvest. Their Chardonnays ferment with ambient yeast in French oak with minimal batonnage and finish in stainless steel, a program built around tension rather than weight.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAligoté was built for shellfish. Start with cold oysters and nothing but lemon, where the salinity in the wine meets the salinity in the shell. Pan-fried trout with brown butter and capers is the classic move, acidity cutting the butter clean. Warm gougeres from the oven, or fresh chevre on grilled bread with olive oil and cracked pepper, both work on the chalky texture. For a real meal, chicken paillard pounded thin, grilled fast, finished with lemon and parsley. This is the bottle to open while you are still cooking, and the one that disappears before anyone sits down.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Craft","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67801301385439,"sku":null,"price":42.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/PA010448.jpg?v=1790911200"},{"product_id":"domaine-dalussia-bourgogne-aligote-2023","title":"Domaine d'Alussia Bourgogne Aligote 2023","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Land\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor most of the last century, Aligoté was the grape Burgundians mixed with crème de cassis to make kir, planted on whatever ground Chardonnay did not get. That reputation is badly out of date. This Bourgogne Aligoté comes from Corcelles-les-Arts, a quiet village on the flatter ground east of Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet, close enough to share their limestone base. The soils here are limestone and chalk heavy with marl that give Aligoté the salty, chalky edge that sets it apart from Chardonnay grown a few kilometers away. Aligoté from Burgundy has become one of the best values in white wine for exactly that reason: Côte de Beaune geology without Côte de Beaune prices.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDomaine d'Alussia Bourgogne Aligoté 2023 is 100% Aligoté, fermented and aged in a mix of older French oak barrels and Clayver ceramic globes. The ceramic lets the wine breathe the way a barrel does without adding wood flavor, so it gains texture and mid-palate weight while the fruit stays bright. The oak is all used, there for shape rather than toast. Lemon zest and crunchy green apple lead into a slightly waxy texture, a sea-salt tang, and acidity with real electricity, finishing chalky. 2023 was Burgundy's hottest year on record, but whites were the vintage's most consistent success, and Aligoté's naturally high acidity carried the heat without going soft.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDomaine d'Alussia grew out of the restructuring of the former Domaine Mischief and Mayhem, and is now based in Aloxe-Corton with plots across the Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits. Australian winemaker Alexandra Wilson now leads it, having trained alongside her aunt, Jane Eyre, and Benjamin Leroux, two well-known Beaune winemakers. She took full control of harvest and winemaking in 2024 and has moved the house away from the heavier oak of its past toward a lighter, more transparent style. She works with organic specialist Bernard Zito, and the Aligoté vineyard is in conversion to organic farming.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWarm gougères straight from the oven are the classic Burgundian match; the acidity cuts through the gruyère and choux pastry. Steam moules marinières with shallots, butter, and parsley and the saline edge meets the brine. A warm goat cheese salad with walnuts and a sherry vinaigrette plays off the chalky finish, and fried calamari with lemon aioli gets scrubbed clean by the acid. Pour it as the first bottle of the night, while dinner is still on the stove.\u003c\/p\u003e\n","brand":"Wine Down Selections","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":68065552105695,"sku":null,"price":43.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/PA170513.jpg?v=1792285079"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/collections\/drcmontrachet_white_wine_grapes_in_a_picking_bin_in_a_vineyard._39f116ac-27ea-4819-a9ab-bc3db5be4e72.png?v=1793249681","url":"https:\/\/denverwinemerchant.com\/collections\/aligote.oembed","provider":"Denver Wine Merchant","version":"1.0","type":"link"}