Winemaker Notes
Easy on the palate, silky mouthfeel and supple body, with plenty of very ripe fruit – a mixture of pears, apples, Reine Claude plums and a touch of quince, mixed with citrus fruits and spices, Outspan orange, bitter orange marmalade with a touch of lime zest; on the contrary, there’s clementine that’s still relatively green, Reinette apple – fruit, seed and skin; grey and white pepper, a hint of Espelette pepper; good balance between alcohol, acidity and fruit. Tasty finish – the fruit holds up well, accompanied by a nice, intense spicy note; perfectly palatable, with a hint of salt on the finish.
A native but unique white grape to Burgundy, Aligoté is a light bodied white that often ends up unfairly lost in Chardonnay’s shadow. In Côte Chalonnaise, in a quaint village named Bouzeron, just south of the Côte de Beaune, Aligoté has its very own appellation where yields are limited in order to enhance flavors, acidity and overall quality. Somm Secret—Curiously, the famous producer, Domaine Ponsot, bottles a 100% Aligoté from its Premier Cru in Morey-Ste-Denis, Les Monts Luisants, made from Aligoté vines planted in 1911.
A classic source of exceptional Chardonnay as well as Pinot Noir, the Côte de Beaune makes up the southern half of the Côte d’Or. Its principal wine-producing villages are Pernand-Vergelesses, Aloxe-Corton, Beaune, Pommard, Volnay, Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet.
The area is named for its own important town of Beaune, which is essentially the center of the Burgundy wine business and where many negociants center their work. Hospices de Beaune, the annual wine auction, is based here as well.