Aligoté: Having a moment

September 11, 2026

By Tom Prior

I enjoy chancing less familiar varietals. A good underdog story. Some are a once-off; a curiosity that fails to hit the mark. Some stick and become house favourites, such as Beaujolais Gamay or Austrian Grüner Veltliner. I'd heard of those before falling for them, but one varietal that took me completely by surprise was Aligoté. Bourgogne Aligoté.

I'd just joined Radford Dale in 2018, and was keen to get stuck into the international portfolio. I kicked off with the least expensive white Burgundy at the time... a bottle of Bourgogne Aligoté 2016 made by Romaric Chavy. He'd interned at Radford Dale a few years prior and was fledging as a rising star of the region.

I'd enjoyed it. Super fresh and taut to the point of being sharp, no perception of oak spice, built around orchard fruit and limey citrus. I thought it was odd for a Chardonnay! Alex would fill me in the next day.

A real turning point however would come in 2023, on a Radford Dale trip to Burgundy. A trip that was as fun as it was insightful. And intense. Feeling fatigued after a good haul of visits to exceedingly generous producers, we sat down for lunch in the heat of summer with Virginie Taupenot and Bernard Bouvier, who pulled out one of his old vine bottlings, sans soufre (no added sulphur).

Ironically, I was having steak tartare. Something else I had first ordered years earlier by mistake. Why did they not ask how I wanted it done?

I cannot overstate how well they matched. A crackling, neutral matured Aligoté cutting through the richness of the food. The wine flavours not overwhelming the tenderness. With the palate invigorated by that experience, I was ready to hit the next visit!

I recommend you try it for yourself and bag a bottle to take on your next restaurant visit.

In the meantime, read on for some more background on Aligoté and why this is a varietal having a moment in Burgundy.

Above: Bernard Bouvier and Virginie Taupenot

Aligoté is an old varietal of Burgundy and used to be well planted. No exact records exist, but up until the arrival of Phylloxera in the late 19th century that would decimate the vineyard area, it was common. It was valued for its acidity, frost resistance and reliability.

Reportedly, it was planted alongside Chardonnay in vineyards such as Le Montrachet that would go on to receive Grand Cru classification under the modern Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC).

The arrival of the AOC system in 1935-1936 put into law specific village, premier cru and grand cru classifications, with the wider, generic Bourgogne AOC coming in 1937.

Wines made from Aligoté did not qualify for Village, Premier Cru or Grand Cru designations, instead limited to the humble Bourgogne Aligoté designation. Plantings suffered as a result as there was little financial incentive to replant Aligoté after phylloxera and the AOC system coming into play. Planting Chardonnay so much more lucrative.

Today, Aligoté accounts for just 6% of the Burgundy vineyard compared to Chardonnay's 50%. It's a varietal that ripens a lot later than Chardonnay and with a markedly higher acidity. These attributes would have been hindrances for quality wine in the cooler conditions of the old days, but are increasingly favoured by the local vignerons after the accelerated warming in recent decades.

Better fortunes for Aligoté arrived in 1998 when the village of Bouzeron received independent classification. Big news, as the star varietal here is Aligoté, occupying the favoured slopes. The varietal had landed on a dedicated village AOC. A core advocate for this was Aubert de Villaine, the long-serving co-owner and co-director of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, who had long championed the varietal since establishing Domaine de Villaine in 1971, in Bouzeron.

[As a side note, there is one curious exception for a Premier Cru Aligoté vineyard. It is called Clos des Monts Luisants in Morey-Saint-Denis.]

In 2018, a group of vignerons formed Les Aligoteurs, to safeguard, champion and elevate the reputation of Aligoté. De Villaine and Bouvier among them. Together, Les Aligoteurs and the wines of Bouzeron have done much to raise the profile and inspire Aligoté growers elsewhere.

Growers in Meursault are experimenting with Aligoté 'through France's Varieties of Interest for Adaptation project (VIFA), which enables regions to experiment with both indigenous and foreign grape varieties to meet the challenges posed by the changing climate.' (winescholarguild.com) There is also growing momentum for the National Institute of Origin and Quality (INAO) to permit up to 10% of Aligoté with Chardonnay for wines classified as Bourgogne Blanc AOC.

Due to Aligoté's propensity to bear large yields, it is best planted on poor limestone soils. Better yet, produced from old vines for low yields and concentration.

Discover 6 brilliant Aligoté wines here to illustrate the point. The Explorer Pack journeys across Burgundy; from the Côte de Nuits (René Bouvier), Côte de Beaune (Guy Amiot and Chavy-Chouet) and Bouzeron in the Côte Chalonnaise (Guy Amiot and Jacqueson).

Enjoy!