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Guy Amiot, Bourgogne Aligoté “Les Grands Champs”

Burgundy, France 2013 (750mL)
$23.00
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Guy Amiot, Bourgogne Aligoté “Les Grands Champs”

Before the phylloxera louse ravaged Europe at the end of the 1800s, Aligoté often grew side-by-side with Chardonnay in Burgundy—and in many of its most prestigious villages, no less. The two grapes share similar genetic origins, and often quite similar personalities, but these days we’re conditioned to think of Aligoté as a ‘second’ grape to its more-famous cousin.
Grown in Burgundy since the 17th century, Aligoté has had appellation status in 1937, but, these days, it’s mostly relegated to less-desirable vineyard locations: cooler sites, flatter sites with richer soils, and so on. There are many noteworthy exceptions, and this wine from Guy Amiot is one of the best of these: Amiot’s 2013 Bourgogne Aligoté “Les Grands Champs” isn’t some simple quaffer but rather a deep and textural white—a real-deal ‘white Burgundy’ in every way—from 80-year-old vines in the village of Chassagne-Montrachet. Not only does this wine blur (if not erase) the distinctions between Aligoté and Chardonnay, it does so at an incredibly affordable price. You get a level of creamy, mineral-inflected depth here that is only possible at this price because it says ‘Aligoté’ on the label. Take advantage of it!
Amiot is, to put it plainly, an excellent white wine producer. Yes, they make some delicious Chassagne-Montrachet Rouge and some bright, perfumed Santenay reds as well, but their range of whites, produced from a trove of top sites, is downright dizzying—and, as our subscribers know, consistent and fairly priced to boot. The domaine was founded in 1920 in Chassagne-Montrachet and was one of the first in the area to “estate-bottle” its wines. Over several generations, the Amiot family has acquired pieces of most of the best vineyards in Chassagne, including precious Premier Cru sites such as “Champ Gains,” “La Maltroie” and “Les Cailleret,” where their vines are 75 years old. They also have a tiny chunk of the Grand Cru “Le Montrachet.” They craft more than a dozen distinct bottlings of Chardonnay, all of them benchmarks of elegant, traditionally made white Burgundy, and then there’s this lone Aligoté—perhaps the best example of all of the ‘top-to-bottom’ precision of this property’s white wines.

Proprietor Thierry Amiot does not treat his Aligoté as an “other.” The vineyard source for this wine is a south-facing site of just over one hectare, with an average vine age of 80 years(!). The wine is subjected to batonnage (lees-stirring) and undergoes full malolactic fermentation, and is aged in a mix of stainless steel tanks and used French oak barrels. After about a year, all wines are assembled in tank, allowed to integrate, then bottled.

This rather luxurious treatment of the higher-acid Aligoté grape gives us a wine of beautiful texture, supported by gripping minerality and fresh acidity which frames the wine. The 2013 vintage was a more balanced white wine year, so don’t expect New World proportions, but there’s plenty of stuffing. In the glass it’s a deep yellow-gold with slight green reflections at the rim, with compelling aromas of yellow apple, Asian pear, white button mushroom, white flowers, wet stones, and a hint of cream. Medium-bodied on the palate and mixing bright fruit with a stony savor, it is quite expressive and textured, yet lively and refreshing as well. Decant it about 30-45 minutes before serving in all-purpose white stems or larger Burgundy bowls just under cellar temp; not too cold, or the wine’s personality will be lost. Its minerality and depth got me thinking about a pairing I often suggest with Chablis: beef tartare. It may sound weird, but trust me—this wine will sing with it! Cheers!
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Country
France
Region
Burgundy
Sub-Region
FranceChassagne-Montrachet
Soil
Limestone and Clay
Farming
Sustainable
Blend
Aligoté
Alcohol
13.0
OAK
Partial Used French
TEMP.
50-55
Glassware
White Wine / Burgundy
Drinking
Now-2020
Decanting
30-45 Minutes
Pairing
Beef Tartare

France

Bourgogne

Beaujolais

Enjoying the greatest wines of Beaujolais starts, as it usually does, with the lay of the land. In Beaujolais, 10 localities have been given their own AOC (Appellation of Controlled Origin) designation. They are: Saint Amour; Juliénas; Chénas; Moulin-à Vent; Fleurie; Chiroubles; Morgon; Régnié; Côte de Brouilly; and Brouilly.

Southwestern France

Bordeaux

Bordeaux surrounds two rivers, the Dordogne and Garonne, which intersect north of the city of Bordeaux to form the Gironde Estuary, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The region is at the 45th parallel (California’s Napa Valley is at the38th), with a mild, Atlantic-influenced climate enabling the maturation of late-ripening varieties.

Central France

Loire Valley

The Loire is France’s longest river (634 miles), originating in the southerly Cévennes Mountains, flowing north towards Paris, then curving westward and emptying into the Atlantic Ocean near Nantes. The Loire and its tributaries cover a huge swath of central France, with most of the wine appellations on an east-west stretch at47 degrees north (the same latitude as Burgundy).

Northeastern France

Alsace

Alsace, in Northeastern France, is one of the most geologically diverse wine regions in the world, with vineyards running from the foothills of theVosges Mountains down to the Rhine River Valley below.

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