François Carillon Bourgogne Aligoté | 2021

At Vinya, we’re obsessed with Aligoté, a historical grape that was once the noble white of Burgundy. Finicky and hard-to-grow, the late ripening varietal was ripped-out in favor of the easier-to-grow, more prolific Chardonnay. Like Chardonnay, Aligoté is an exceptional translator of terroir, packing a mouthful of frosty minerality, yet there’s something mysterious about it, dropping its clues of sweet licorice, fennel, corn husk, and poofs of smoke on the palate.  

Made from the premier Aligoté clone, Jaune Doré, Carillon’s vines live in Puligny-Montrachet and in the village of Corpeau, just south. With an impressive vine age of more than fifty years, he treats his Aligoté just like his Premier Cru Chardonnays, with minimal stirring of the lees and aging in a small percentage of new French Allier oak. A Vinya cult favorite, we receive a small allocation of this wine every year, but this year, There really isn’t much left, as one Burgundy producer says, due to a catastrophic spring frost which decimated white wine yields, leaving some families with just 20% of their usual crop. A serious Aligoté, for the Burgundy enthusiast, grab what you can before this goes poof. ~Allegra A