Bourgogne Aligoté AOC 2020

Wine Description for Bourgogne Aligoté AOC 2020 by Rémi Jobard

Colour & Appearance

Vibrant straw yellow with lively green reflections – a visual promise of freshness and concentration in equal measure.

Nose

Fascinatingly complex and contradictory: powerful stone fruit aromas meet ethereal lightness. The fruit presents itself with phenolic concentration, almost exclusively as skin, with a tart undertone. Added to this are citrus oils, orange blossom water, a hint of green almond and the spicy note of French tarragon. This nose promises tension.

Palate

Crystalline and razor-sharp on the attack – this Aligoté fairly vibrates on the palate. The texture is refined, almost painfully precise, with marked pressure in the mid-palate. Crumbly tannins structure the sketched fruit and lend the wine an unusually phenolic, herbal-bitter dimension. Grapefruit zest and citrus oils dominate, underpinned by a profound mineral bass. This is no obliging aperitif Aligoté, but a serious, mature wine with depth and character.

Finish

Long, forceful and characterised by vibrant minerality. The herbal-citric components resonate persistently.

Terroir & Origin

Rémi Jobard has managed his vineyard parcels in Meursault under organic certification since 2008. The chalky soils of the region are his guiding principle – and precisely this minerality sings unmistakably in this Aligoté.

Grape Variety & Vinification

Jobard has only recently begun vinifying Aligoté himself – previously his father sold the grapes. The careful maturation takes place in 600-litre Stockinger wooden vats rather than small barriques, to allow slow oxygen exchange without dominant oak notes. This Late Release matured for two years in the cellar and benefited from the additional development time.

Food Pairing Suggestions

The phenolic structure and herbaceousness call for correspondingly robust dishes: Gratinéed chicory on crostini with grapefruit butter, pike-perch on sautéed peach with basil butter or rabbit with green apricots and sage from the oven harmonise perfectly with the intensity of this wine.

Special Features

An Aligoté of the New School – concentrated, structured and with impressive ageing potential. Jobard’s crystalline style meets here an often underestimated grape variety and proves its enormous potential.