Bourgogne, France
François Berthenet and his father, Jean-Pierre, run the Berthenet domaine in the hallowed Côte Chalonnaise’s exclusively white wine appellation of Montagny. The Berthenets trace their winegrowing history in Montagny back more than four centuries and are experts at the appellation’s varied terroirs. Lean, chiseled, and highly transparent, Aligoté was previously too acidic for enjoyment as a table wine. Now with modern viticulture and climate change, Aligoté is gaining attention as a highly terroir-expressive grape in Burgundy with champions as famous as Jean-François Coche-Dury, Jean-Marc Roulot and Sylvain Pataille. From 70-year-old vines, Berthenet’s 2019 Aligoté shines with a brilliant lemon-gold hue and bright aromas of perfumed soil, lemon zest, and grapefruit pith. Brisk and bracing in the mouth, the wine opens with juicy lemon and riveting acidity before gaining texture on the palate. Clean, precise, and conveying Montagny’s impeccable pedigree, Berthenet’s Aligoté finishes with racy acidity and further suggestions of lime blossoms, honeysuckle, orange peel, flint, and smoke. This beautifully pure and expressive Aligoté will prove a perfect apéritif, but ideally will be paired now and over the coming three years with halibut, black cod, rockfish, and morels in a cream sauce. Try it in a classic Kir cocktail!
A March 2021 newsletter selection
